4th Year: July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec January05
3rd year: Family Peds Medicine(1) Med(2)
Med(3)
Surgery(1)
Surg(2) Surg(3) Psych Ob/Gyn
Index
FAQs
Other Interesting People: GabeL
Jenny
Kissaknee Lucas Yolanda
January 30,
2005
How About This:
So the guys at the
bible study I’ve been going to have been inviting this homeless dude for
a couple weeks. I’ve talked to him some. He’s reasonably sane (ie no psychiatric illness that’s obvious yet) for a
homeless dude although definitely has the cycle of poverty attitude about him. Kind of novel to have Bible study in
Girls Suck:
I’m in a really
bad mood.
What to do about my Rank List?:
I’m having
doubts about ranking
More Reasons to be in a Bad Mood:
My article for
journal club tomorrow is a stupid review article. How dumb. Pretty
mind-numbing stuff… man, why can’t they give me a real article to
present/critic instead of an article full of conclusions that I’m just going
to sort through and highlight? How dull.
At least I’m
going to talk about my favorite pub in
January 26, 2005
Real Work:
Working on
KW’s bachelor party.
Kind of a different beast… the age range is something like 18 to
60+… people born on three continents… and a mix of students,
chemists, pastors, and others… I’m crossing my fingers that thing
will fall into place…
I Hate Poop:
I took my dog for a
run today. Afterwards I thought I’d be nice and let her chill inside.
After I took a shower, I came out and she had s*** on the floor. UGG!
You’d think she was house-broken and could wait and would let me know she
needed to take a dump. What a frustrating dog.
I’ve decided
that this relationship is very unilateral and unsatisfying. She just
doesn’t show me much affection… for all the runs and jaunts to the
beach and back/belly rubs… I get a couple licks on the face here or
there, and that’s it! I give and give and give and all I get is a s*** on the floor.
I think I see a sad
pattern in my relationships with girls… ha ha
Names the tox fellow has called my
rental
Pear. Marshmellow. Pop-up Camper.
The
January 24, 2005
Letter of Love:
I’m sending out
love letters to my top 3 (maybe 4) residency programs… even though they
probably won’t make much of a difference, I figure I’ll be more
content when I’m shafted on match day as long as I made sure I got in the
maximum groveling possible.
This residency
interview thing is kind of like dating. Everyone’s trying to look good (I
was horrified at one place that my shoes weren’t well-shined), say the
right things, smell decent… having the perfect setting (eg NY strip dinner at Henry Ford)… even gift-giving
(got some really good chocolate and a
neato pen from Cincinnati)… lots of mixed and
hidden messages (“So what are you looking for in a program?”
“Uh, yeah, I can totally see
myself living in Poh-Dunk USA.”)… meeting the parents (the program director asking, “So
why will I choose you as my chief
resident in three years?)… a lot of post-date
courting (thank-you cards)… and then trying to get the real story
(“So does she like me or not?” “So what should I say/do to
let her know?”) from those “friends-of” (eg
residents). And, then, the kicker, is that in the end, it probably all
didn’t really matter ‘cause fate and
circumstances (The Match) just intervene and choose for you.
Man, girls are such a
headache sometimes. I think Nietzche once said
something to the effect that women are, at the same time, both the most
beautiful and most dangerous creatures to ever exist.
World Cup:
Tickets on
sale Feb 1. I can’t
believe I almost forgot about that. The tough part is figuring out what country
to go watch… should I be loyal and go to US matches? Then, maybe I
don’t feel like getting booed everywhere I go and so I should just try to
get
January 19, 2005
Red-Faced:
WELL. I haven’t
been that embarrassed since a shoddy pt presentation to a surgical resident at
So, no doubt what
I’m working on tonight…
January 18, 2005
Loma Linda EM:
What can I say?
It’s a solid program. Nice mix of tertiary care and county experiences. Above average peds training. Very friendly atmosphere. The residents and faculty were
really friendly and cool. The
This was the quietest
interview I’ve been on, by far. Some deathly silence
during lunch. I think we five interviewees just didn’t have any
questions to ask anymore… there just comes a point when you can take one
glance at an ED and get a decent sense of how things are run and you really
only care about seeing the personalities of the residents to see whether or not
you’d fit in...
I’ve decided
I’m uncomfortable with two types of residents: 1) dull residents –
some that just have some superficial speel that they
keep on rattling off no matter how repetitive, useless, and sleep-inducing. 2)
overenthusiastic residents – some were just too enthusiastic about their
programs and tried selling it too hard… there’s a threshold over
which you kind of wonder why they’re trying so hard... if they’re
really trying to convince themselves
of how great it is or if they’re covering something up…. My
favorite programs have been ones where the residents talk frankly and
positively about the pros/cons of the program, but frankly don’t give a
s*** whether you agree or not – they know
their program is and they are the s*** and don’t need to prove it to
anyone – that’s a real intangible confidence that I found at only
about half of the programs I interviewed at.
Oh yeah, I forgot one
more type of person… those random culturally naïve people that say stuff
like, “Who would have thought 10 years ago that a guy like me [a white
guy] would be talking to a black guy next to him on a plane with Japanese kids
running around?” How irritating. Well, he was an applicant, but still
annoying… and kind of frightening – he could be your ER doc someday...
January 17, 2005
UCSD Toxicology:
Had some great cases
already… carbon monoxide poisoning… serotonin syndrome…
it’s been much more laid-back since that first crazy day… I
actually went in today not knowing that they considered it a holiday…
even then, got some good teaching points from the attending… not entirely
sure I want to do tox fer
sure – it’s not too bad, I’d have a handful of shifts (10-12
hrs/week) on top of whatever tox research, admin,
teaching, etc I’d be doing… not bad, but dunno
if I want to do tox all the time… we’ll
see. Cool stuff. These guys are really smart… kind of quirky
personalities… maybe I’d fit in. =)
Weather is
awesome… it’s getting into the mid-70s during the day – I
just took my dog to Dog Beach in Ocean Beach for a couple hours… been
going for short runs almost every day… got to get a bit more fit for the
wedding… ha ha.
Also just been helping KW with home projects he needs to get done before
he’s hitched.
Bridal Shower games:
So they played that
Newlywed-show-like game where they first videotape the groom responding to
questions and then replaying it during the bridal shower/bachelorette
party to see if the bride gives the same answer. So, if you can believe it, I
had to be the one to come up with the “naughty” questions. The
maid-of-honor was just too... uh… embarrassed? Innocent?
So, great. I didn’t realize how tame her
questions would be until she got here and I read the list… stuff like
“what’s your favorite color?” and “how was your first
kiss?”… I think her big naughty question was phrased something
like, “How many times will you consummate your marriage the first
week?” or something like that. Well, I suppose it’s a bit
scandalous for a conservative Christian crowd… So,
great. It falls to the shoulders of a conservative, Asian American
Christian to put together a handful of naughty questions… definitely not
the optimal arrangement. But, I put
together some questions about underwear – you can never go wrong
embarrassing a conservative gal by talking about underwear… speaking of
which, one of my favorite memories from my last trip to England was sitting in
a centuries-old pub in some back alley in Oxford, having fish & chips with
an ale, and having this great conversation with my female companion…
which included a long discussion about women’s underwear…
anyways…
My best question was
this (thanks to JI’s advice):
Me: “What was the
first thing you did to get YQ’s
attention?”
KW: “Uh, you
mean the very first thing?”
Me: “Uh,
sure.” (as I’m thinking – this is not a difficult question)
KW: “I called
her up and talked to her for a while.”
Me: <raising
eyebrow in disbelief>
KW: “What? You
asked for the very first thing…”
…. Dude, that was pretty weak,
KW.
This was SD’s
bright idea, I thought it was worth a shot:
Me: “If you
were to name your penis, what would you call it?”
KW: <silence>
…
Anyways… this one got edited out… didn’t help that KW and the
maid of honor were pretty much silent for an awkward amount of time… oh
well. Although, realizing this the next day, a more reasonable question
(I’m never asking SD’s help for stuff like this again) would have
been the Vagina Monologues question:
“If you were to dress your vagina/penis, what would it wear?” where
it’s a question of perceptions of sexuality… instead of just being weird…
Applications:
Just canceled
my interview at
January 13, 2005
Harold and Kumar Go to
Dude. It was HILARIOUS. Any movie that can work in Amy Grant and
Wilson-Phillips and still be entertaining is worth seeing.
Old Digs:
Trying to get in some
work at UCSD… needed to get out of the house and go somewhere where I
could people-watch during study breaks… they replaced the semi-sketchy
Mexican and Chinese food places in the Price Center with a Rubio’s and
Panda Express… it was pretty sucky food, but it
had character… that’s kind of a bummer.
Too Much Thinking:
Actually a bit
distracted thinking about my rank list again. ‘cause I’m thinking of
dropping my last interview. My thinking is, that if
it’s probably not going to crack my top 4-5, it’s probably not
really worth it. Yeah… it’s too bad, it’s a great program,
but I’m really tired of traveling and interviewing… blah.
Jail Tattoos:
What I learned today
during Tox lectures…
Big numbers on the
chest = zip code or area code of the gang
Number on a tombstone
= how many years in jail
Random number = corresponding
letter to a corresponding drug he can trade in jail. Eg
13 => M => Marijuana
Woman on the back =
depending on the attractiveness, for encouragement or protection
Home:
So I was thinking
when I was home a couple weeks ago that I really don’t feel totally at
home anywhere… and so it begs the question, why? So, I’ve decided
that what makes a place “home” is actually a bunch of different
things including peer relationships, family, community, physical environment,
work/leisure activities… probably in roughly that order to importance to
most people… basically, because I figure people will usually move to very
different areas for their spouses… and the people who don’t are
probably pretty selfish. But, anyways, for example, while
So, I’m kind of
trying to rank my programs based on what place feels like it could grow on me
as “home.” It’s coming down to what city do I want to live in
and did I feel like I fit in with the residents? My top 3-4 are pretty
easy… it’s everything after that—my back-up programs are
taking a lot of thought… ‘cause those all
have some big problem that I can’t ignore… ugg.
January 12, 2005
In
Finally made
it… aaaaaaaah… it’s nice and
familiar. Just been trying to get
settled… didn’t help that I had a 12-hour first day… The tox rotation has been okay – also been trying to get
a feel for people’s personalities and how I fit in to the team…
always a bit awkward the first several days…
My rental car was
switched… when I got to Hertz, they didn’t have any compact cars
ready, so they gave me whatever they had ready on the lot at the time… a beige….
January 7, 2005
“’Something
happened that we probably neither understood at the time, so it’s no
surprise we can’t remember it properly now, or that we recall it
differently. We have to understand something to remember it.’
‘Is that true?’
‘I think so. It’s why
two-year-olds can’t remember. They feel things like crazy, but they
don’t remember them because they don’t really understand
them.’”
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Blue Mars
Memory:
Funny thing memory is.
This seems to come up often in my conversations with DC. I swear that
I’ve never lost a Scrabble game to her, in fact, that she retired early
from one game because I was winning so overwhelmingly. She, however, seems to
remember that she soundly beat me once to my two wins… I don’t
believe it, ‘cause I never score as low as she claims. How
insulting. Ha ha
Need to Leave:
Another good reason
to leave Toledo – It’s a pain in the a** trying to find a ride to
the Detroit airport since so many of my friends graduated, and the few people I
still know are all in med school… I was close to considering arranging a
taxi… that would have cost around $100… whew. Just
need three more… one back and then two for
So, just been running
errands, reading, playing PS2, and trying to pack for two months (I think I’ll be okay), and trying to
clean up all the random crap lying around my apt for my friend subletting my
place… ugg… got all my clothes and books
packed away… it’s just all that annoying, unnamed, ubiquitous residual stuff that always appears when
you’re trying to pack up and move… that stuff you want to dump into
a single box just to be done with it, but know that you’ll probably lose
something really important, so it just sits around, randomly scattered on the
floor of the apt, until time runs out and you pack it all into one jumbled box
anyways…
January 5, 2005
Overheard at
1)
“Procreating
residents are happy residents.”
2)
“There
were some pretty shady dealings [for building the new hospital]… but it
was for a good cause.”
Ugg. I thought about canceling this interview, but I ended up
liking it a lot. It’s definitely the prototypical county program, even
with the whole, unabashed badge of honor of serving the indigent. It’s my
type of patient population – indigent, mixed ethnicities, high percentage
of Latino patients (I get to practice Spanish, unlike any other non-CA program
I’ve interviewed at). Very strong clinical training.
Really good senior level, supervisory experience. Has
the module system that I like. Residents are real laid-back… kind of
blue-collar feel… not as edgy as some other county/inner-city programs.
Cool attendings. Oh yeah, EIGHT-HOUR SHIFTS!!!! VERY nice. Kind of a drawback – although it’s
not guaranteed, I think I can influence them into ranking me high for the
prelim medicine year and turn the 2-4 program into a
virtual 1-4, which is MUCH better. Not the greatest prelim medicine year, but
not bad either. And, it’s
January 3, 2005
Scientific Question: Does EtOH Correlate to Rank Order?:
Alcohol consumed
while in the company of residents/other applicants:
Henry Ford – 1
beer
Yale – 3 beers
+ 2 Bailey’s
George Washington
– 2 beers
All Others –
none
It appears that 2
drinks may be a threshold, where 2+ drinks => a high rank, whereas <2
drinks doesn’t appear to make a difference.
Grrr:
One of my pet-peeves
is losing out on free money. Made a few careless mistakes just
over the last month. First, I forgot to print out a $20-off Banana Republic coupon and missed out on using that last
month. Then, I just found out all my Columbia House frequent purchase credits
expired at the end of the year! That was supposed to be my
Selling Books:
So I’m sitting
around Health Ed trying to get rid of a ton of my med school books. Too bad
these 1st and 2nd years are too short-sighted to realize
how much they’d be saving by investing a little early… I
can’t believe how much cash I blew on these stupid books. Well, got rid
of a big chunk of them… maybe got around $160 today… recovered, uh,
maybe 30% of what I spent? Yuck. I’m hoping to bump up my $recovery by
selling the rest of my stuff on ebay/half.com.
Article
Correlating Marriage Prospects With IQ:
“Claire
Rayner, writer and broadcaster, said in the article
that intelligent men often preferred a less brainy partner.
‘A chap with a high IQ is
going to get a demanding job that is going to take up a lot of his energy and
time. In many ways he wants a woman who is an old-fashioned wife and looks
after the home, a copy of his mum in a way.’”
Err… uh… ut-oh…
January 1,
2005
First Quotation of the New Year, in tribute to my many
couple-friends—new and old, fresh and seasoned, but all still fun to hang out with:
“Only a few
people in the world were lucky enough to run into their true partners—it
took courageous luck for it to happen, then the sense to recognize it, and the
courage to act. Few could be expected to have all that, and then to have things
go well.”
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Blue Mars
… oh yeah,
it’s also for my 5’6”, 2nd-gen Asian Am, Christian
(perhaps with a Reformed bent), volleyball-playing, good-music-art-and-book
respecting, thoughtful and merciful, to-be-found hottie
wife—in case she’s reading this.
Ha ha
December 30, 2004
More Home:
Ah. I get pretty
bored after a week of not-talking with my dad and shopping with my mom. My
brother dropped by after dinner then somehow got my dad started talking about
living trusts/wills… good grief, I felt like going to sleep.
Getting a little
restless with moving around so much—ready to hit
English Women:
Someone told me that
the female:male ratio in
Random Thought:
Has anyone else
realized that if you go to a stadium-seating movie theatre, you can see the
tops of everyone’s heads? Isn’t that funny? I mean, what are people
generally self-conscious about? Stuff that other people can see, that they
can’t, right? Eg gum on the buttocks, kick me
notes on backs, that acne you can feel forming on your nose, and… tops of
heads! So, when you’re sitting high in a movie theatre and can see dozens
and dozens of people’s tops of their heads below you, when else do you
wield so much social power? When can you hold such a mass of people under such
a huge collective vulnerability?
It’s also like
cloud-watching—you can pick out different shapes and animals out of
people’s hair. Heehee
… and, finally, Happy New Year!