Mexico Medical Student |

Blog Updates:
I’m happy to report all is well. The blog software is updated, making room for all the “current” plug-ins, themes, etc. and most importantly, the security fixes applied so that I don’t get h4×0r5 hijacking the site to something hideous and embarrassing like an online yarn shop. I’d never live that one down. Regarding the slick black theme: yes, it’s understated, and surprisingly, yes, it’s pretty much done. I downloaded it of course, because I can’t create much of anything, but I can always edit and tweak. (which I need to do because I want my links underlined and my blogroll subcategorized) However, I really like the minimal, clean look. Maybe in a month or two I’ll think to add a graphic here and there, but the day you see a flash ad at the top (for yarn and fabric!) is the day you know for sure I’ve been abducted. Thanks Vijay and TinyShrink MD (heh) for the shout outs.

Bags:
As I wrote on Twitter the other day, I have a serious thing for bags. I am, in fact, completely indistinguishable from a woman shopping for purses with the level of scrutiny that I investigate pockets, seams, zippers and compartments. However, the presence of my Y chromosome does mean that I must depart somewhat from my inner female in that looks and it matching anything else I have are nearly irrelevant. I don’t care if the bag looks like a freak accident that escaped the Coach genetic testing labs–I care about function,form, and feel, ONLY and in that order.

So my brother was here last week, and I saw a bag he had that I don’t recall his having this last Christmas. I asked what it was, and he said “Weren’t you the one that told me about this?” Disgustedly, I gave a look like, “You fool! Do you think I’d forget something like this?!?” as I pawed The Precious.

Here is the object of my desire. It’s different from my brother’s, but our gear needs are different. Yes I know the orange isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing color, but just look at that removable DSLR camera bag attachment. Yes, I know the whole “snake” theme is a bit odd, but that’s some sexy stuff. YeSSSSS!

Obviously, I’m not getting this anytime soon, but my current eBags laptop backback is not doing too well (in fact, it’s nearly unrecognizable from the online pictures). It’s also surprisingly heavy all by itself–something I found recently as I emptied it to have it be managed by Claudia when I was last in the hospital. “Honey, I need this because, like, you know, the next time I might be in the the hospital–what? yes, I know the doctor said all would be fine, but you never know…ok!–I’m just saying, the next time, if I have this, it won’t be as heavy for you when you have to manage it,” just isn’t very convincing. I’ll work on it.

Social Networking:
In my previous life, I was a senior-level IT person/consultant. It should come as no surprise, then, that when faced with a “SIGN UP NOW” email from a relative, friend, or annoying co-worker–it matters not–in order to see their pictures or whatever online with some proprietary service, I normally would hit “delete” without a second thought (and might even be annoyed that thanks to them, they at least have my email address). Why on earth would I want to give away my information to a business that I have nothing to do with who, upon trying to make ends meet, will be like so many others and whore their user data to the highest bidder, maybe even sinking so low as to start putting up yarn ads. (If you got that reference, you’ve read this all the way through and I thank you from the bottom of my ad-less heart)

Maybe it’s the sweltering Texas summer heat, maybe it’s having some burnable time on my hands, but I seem to be trying out new services sites like it’s going out of style. Normally meticulously recorded in SplashID on my Blackberry (encrypted of course), I have yet to keep up with all the usernames/sites I’m registering. It’s like I have Daddy’s credit card and going on a registration/shopping spree and don’t care about amounts or receipts, wadding them up and throwing them on the floor as I search the next target. There’s a ton of redundancy and overlap in these things, and I think I’ve reached the limit of what I’m willing to try. I think with each useful service, there is a “best of breed” product; that’s the one I’ll sign up with.

And what it is with the lack of vowels in these names? Flickr. Stumblr. Feedlr. Tumblr. Mastrbatr. I gotta pull back before some 21-year-old CIO in the Bay Area tweets to his other entrepreneur buddies and with all their collective information figures out the exact position of all the constellations at the time of my birth. On their iPhones.

(Medical stuff–personal and news/commentary–coming in a jiffy, I promise!)

This week’s Grand Rounds is up at Doctor Geek, aka Dr. Enoch Choi.

It’s been a couple of weeks, but with the move and being stuck in dial-up land I failed to pass along the URL for my interview at Medscape with Dr. Genes. If you get weekly mailings from Medscape, this was included somewhere in last week’s issue, but if you don’t or missed it, here it is (registration required).

A Dr. Seuss-themed Grand Rounds is up at Musings of a Distractible Mind. Dr. Rob really outdid himself on this one.

Om….

I think the whole Venn diagram thing is hilarious. Personally, in my recent hiatus, I was actually thinking about what I could do to make my own site better, more appealing, not just for readers but for myself. The simple obvious answer is “POST, moron!” but I like the long, complicated answers.
To that end, I bought a book while in the States: The Forest For the Trees, because I thought, written by a professional editor, that it would help my get past all my perfectionistic “stop” energy to “let it flow.” Well, it turns out not to be what I needed, as the book deals more with career writers (or those who wish to be) and writers of books/thos involved in a formal publishing process. I was more looking for something along the lines of How To Stop Procrastinating Blogging Simple Things You Know Others Will Enjoy Because You Keep Saying “Later”, but I just didn’t find that on Amazon.

This morning we are driving back to Mexico with our new (old) car driven by my sister-in-law, a trooper who wasn’t daunted by the drive (and staying for a mini-vacation). This is my/our first caravan into Mexico. I hate caravans. The drive is stressful and long enough by yourself much less worrying/coordinating about/with someone else. These last 4-5 days have totally and completely beat me up in every way.  It’s nothing bad, but I’m tired of seemingly simple–even mundane–things like moving completely kicking my ass.  I am so ready to get back and [re]start my life again with a new semester in one week.

I’ll be offline for a few more days still, but I have lots to share afterwards once I FINALLY get quiet time (and back in my house, I hope I can at least get some) to write and reflect.

It is now 01:02:03 on 04/05/06.  Enjoy the next 99.99999% of your millenium. 

(The Fire Dog, specifically) — Happy Chinese New Year! I miss being in Houston where I could take part in festivities (usually that means just eating amidst deafening firecrackers in the street, seeing a dragon dance or two), but I’ll deal, especially with an ethics exam tomorrow.

I was actually born in the Year of the Dog, and here are some characteristics (as well as my year) as per the Chinese Zodiac:

The Dog is a giving, compassionate personality. He offers kind words, support and advice to friends and family. He is a listener, always available to lend an ear or a shoulder to a friend in need. They have extremely high standards and expect a lot of themselves and of others. They are loyal and hold a strong outlook about the direction they want their life to take. Once they have committed themselves, there is little to no turning back. They are bold, unafraid to disagree out loud about anything they feel is unjust or unfair. They are easily stressed if a plan does not go accordingly. They find it difficult to relax when there are things to be done.

Guilty as charged! Have a prosperous new year!

So my semester already began, and thankfully it’s been a whole lot of “ho hum.” I shouldn’t say that entirely, but in contrast to how the last semester started (probably intended to be a boot camp ground-you-into-the-dirt-like-maggots-style “Welcome!”), I can get used to this lighter load while it lasts.

My original goal was to switch to WordPress for this blog before school started, but as usual, life–particularly Bob Vila-style domestic chores got in the way. So, I’ll be doing that this week, most likely.

FOR THOSE WITH USERNAMES/PASSWORDS TO THIS SITE:
Sorry, but no usernames will be available for general registration anymore. I did this because I wanted to encourage those that knew me in real life to follow more private details that were not super-secret but not necessarily information I’d want to share with the entirety of the Internet. I’ve decided to devote this blog entirely with what I want to write publicly and nothing more — I’ll have another solution when the time comes for more private writing, but of course, that information would be private.
So again, thanks to all for reading and I hope to make your experience here better really soon.

The 2005 Medical Weblogs Award nominations have begun! If you have a favorite blog, now is the time to go put in the nomination. Look to this link to see if your favorite(s) is already there. There is a “nominate now” link or just go here to the comments section. Believe it or not, a lot of awesome sites that I read are not yet on the list. I will be adding a few more nominations for some that I really think are egregiously missing, but make haste for adding yours, since the nominations close as of Dec 30th.

I can’t compete with the big dogs for ANY of the categories, especially as a lowly 1st year with not much clinical experience, but I certainly wouldn’t pull a Sean Penn and refuse to accept a nomination if one were so inclined. Seriously, if you have any medical blogs you like to read and they are not on the list, show them some love already. Blogging is harder than it looks. ha!