Mexico Medical Student |

Hello…thanks for still checking in! It seems odd to have a post entitled “Hiatus” when I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks, but I felt at least y’all deserved to know that it will still be a bit before anything really moves on here. Things have not been settling easily, though. Every significant step forward seems to have at least an equal or greater step backwards. For example, our stuff got through the border–and we saved over $2500 compared to the cheapest quotes we were getting in GDL, all things being said and done. Except things at my parents’ house weren’t working out, so we moved to my father-in-laws. Like I needed any more moving. At least we’re talking the original stuff we had in the cars only–the big stuff went straight into a storage unit until we can figure out what’s going to go on with us.

Which is the point–too much is too unstable to be blogging here about it right now. Either I blog about what’s going on (which part of me would LOVE to do) or I censor myself to the point of losing interest, blogging out of some unspoken forced obligation. The former runs the almost certain consequence of shifting the blog too negative (more than it already has), and I think that’s too high a price to pay. When things calm down (and I thought they would have by about now) and life is more stable, I look forward to writing about many things again, without the seemingly ever-present undertone of doom and gloom.

Speaking of doom and gloom, one of my worst fears has been realized. I promise, that’s what’s not sending me into a non-writing funk, but it’s close.

In the meantime, I have to change the name of this site from mexicomedstudent.com to something else, since it clearly no longer applies. Any suggestions you’d want to leave in the Comments section would be greatly appreciated.

Until later!

OK, I think the NFL (and I’m referring to “NFL Inc.” specifically, not the sport of football) has officially gone to the Dark Side^tm. The whole NFL Network vs. the rest of all other broadcast media debacle where the NFL says, “We OWN this sport; be lucky we let you show anything” should be reason enough to question the motives and sanity of the corporate brass. (proof? two words: Bryant Gumbel) But if all the oligopolies of cable networks as a whole wasn’t a fish big enough to fry, the NFL in true Belichick-like fashion is now kicking the cane from old ladies crossing the street; namely, they are going after churches showing the game on television screens larger than 55 inches. Because, of course, a 54 inch TV is OK but a 60 inch plasma is ungodly.

No, the real reason–again–is greed. The official reason has some opium-induced rationale about ratings and statistics of viewers (ie, 100 people watching on 50 TVs adds better to the viewing stats than 200 people watching on 2 TVs), but aren’t official “ratings” done by Nielsen households or the like that voluntarily participate? When any event claims that x million people are viewing, it’s not a house-by-house count by any means; it’s extrapolated from a controlled group. So what do they care if some church-going folk want to get together, use a big projector they already have, and invite sports enthusiasts for a gathering that’s guaranteed “clean” for the family?

Ah, but the plot thickens. You see, there is an exception–and one exception only–to the 55 inch TV rule. Sports bars and other such establishments are free to show as big a jumbotron as they can fit to show as many people as they can serve, no penalties, no foul. So in effect, we have the NFL clearly endorsing a place of drinking (and usually smoking, depending on the local laws) over a church entity. And why not? Off the top of your head, who are the “big name” Super Bowl ad consumers year after year? I promise eTrade commercials won’t be coming back, but Budweiser commercials will forever stay.

And just to be clear–all of this is coming from a beer drinker (although not the piss water they advertise on any given football game) and lover of sports bars. Verily I say unto thee: The NFL will have to do pennance on this one in due time.

(h/t Slashdot)

You know, throughout the Chargers/NE game, I always felt the Chargers were going to lose even while they were up by 3 then never trailed by more than 7-10 points. Why? Because you could see the inconsistency in their playing, the fly-by-your-pants style that won them big plays, but couldn’t deliver when it counted (like 4 trips to the red zone that resulted in 4 FGs only).

That’s NOT what I expected to see from Green Bay. As I saw Plaxico Burress saw through GB’s secondary like a hot knife through butter, the GB cornerbacks suckered on the simplest jukes, I had to wonder what all the fuss was about how awesome our cornerbacks Al Harris and Woodson were. When the secondary adjusted to get more “physical,” all that came of it was pass interference calls. Burress was visibly taunting Harris, and excuse my French, Harris did turn out to be the little bitch today.

I lost count of the missed tackles by ALL of the defense, but especially Woodson and Harris. Everybody was so flatfooted, lacking any fire, like the only thing on their mind was to get back to that warm bench. Well guess what? You got several months to sit your warm ass on the couch, because the season is over.

New York missed two field goals and had a touchdown called back because of a holding call. That’s 12 potential points that would have removed the need for an overtime in the first place–plays and opportunities allowed by the GB defense that should have never been.

But enough ragging on the defense, the offense didn’t exactly shine either. Favre in his press conference on Friday said he would like to sleep in on Sunday morning for a change, leaving the pre-game nerves to the younger guys. I think he slept past noon, because he hasn’t played that craptacular since Chicago’s loss. I don’t know if receivers were slowed down by the conditions on their routes and Favre didn’t adjust or what, but so many balls were overthrown (on the right route) or simply badly thrown (at the feet). Favre never looked comfortable and was constantly fiddling with his chinstrap. He too looked like he wanted off the field ASAP.

After throwing a pick while three defenders were chasing Favre to the sideline (throw it away already!), you’d think there would be restraint later when faced with similar circumstances. The interception on the very first possession in overtime was classically the worst of Favre. When the pressure is on, he feels the need to make the “big play,” and more often than not, he makes it for the other team. Manning threw his fair share of airballs and grounders to be sure, but other than one time, he didn’t cough up a pick under pressure, and certainly not at a pivotal point in the game. The stats of the two QBs were actually very, very similar; the difference was 1) the defenses, 2) penalties, and 3) the timing of the mistakes.

Nobody likes to lose, but losing because you were bested is respectable; losing because you didn’t achieve your standards (let alone excellence) sucks. Bart Starr was selected to present the NFC trophy to the winner: imagine the circle of history as Favre would have taken the stand to share the reception from GB’s legendary QB of yore. Imagine the Super Bowl matchup of Favre and Brady as GB and NE meet once again (in 1997, Bledsoe was the NE QB).

Now the only thing most of us can hope for to not have to endure more crap from New England fans than we’ve already had to deal with over the last few years is for the G-men to kick some ass against the Patriots. They showed in the final week of the regular season that they had a significant chance of toppling the Pats; now, with three more wins and all the confidence in the world combined with the lessons recently learned from 3 weeks ago, the Giants have an ever greater chance of getting the job done.

It’s gameday once again for my Green Bay Packers, this time for the NFC Championship and a trip to the Super Bowl. The New York Giants, proving themselves a team to take seriously in Dallas’ defeat last week, I’m afraid to say is too beat up and inconsistent to be a match for the green and gold. I’m not a superstitious person, so I have no “jinx” worries by typing this before kickoff.

The big story on the game is the weather. The 3-day estimate for kickoff was 4 degrees. I just checked online about 45 minutes ago and found this:

That’s for about 1pm local time; kickoff is at 5:42pm, so you can be sure it’ll probably be a bit colder, certainly dipping lower as the game progresses into the night. The temperature situation is serious enough that the Packers issued a press release giving safety/health tips and advice to fans attending the game.

The advice given above doesn’t apply to the comfortable temperatures here in Guadalajara, so my prescription for gametime is the following:

Like antibiotics, you should not stop treatment early, even if you feel better. hehe

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In all the festivities I almost let slip by the fact that tonight is the Medgadget Medblog [Pre-]Awards Radio Show with the host, Dr. A, as well as Dr. Nick Genes, fellow Medgadget colleague and creator/coordinator of Grand Rounds. The show will be at BlogTalkRadio with the live broadcast starting at 9PM EST/8PM CST/2AM GMT. Be sure to log into the chat room a few minutes early to get comfy.

My “work” for the Medblog Awards was done back when Medgadget was responsible for collecting nominations and determining finalists, and since the final vote belongs to the public, I’d let things slip a little (and as a judge, my blog, however not worthy of being among them as of late, isn’t eligible anyway) In general, my blogging activities have taken a back seat to the administrative hassles at school, but this should show that I’m still alive and kicking and still not without humor. I feel bad for not promoting this earlier, but better late than never I s’pose.

If you can’t tune in tonight, you can catch the show archive anytime thereafter. Watch Medgadget on Wednesday, January 23rd, to see who the official winners are (and what lucky individual gets that Kindle)!

I’m not one to be easily emotionally affected by things, but this really got to me. It’s a video of a father who, though not a runner, got in shape to eventually compete in triathalons so his quadriplegic son can feel free, if only temporarily, from the wheelchair that imprisons him.

To see this and then think of all the stir and controversy and conspiracy theories about Landis’ alleged testosterone doping makes one feel even more cheated. This is what sport, what courage, what heart is all about. I’ll pay to see these two race if they’re the last ones to come in before I’d give a nickel for most athletes out there. Inspiring.

Right now Mexico is playing Iran in the opening games of the FIFA World Cup. They’re playing in Germany, but you think they were playing in the soccer stadium down the street, people are yelling so loud. As I was making a late breakfast, I noticed a lot of yelling and hollering from houses behind our backyard. It wasn’t continuous, so I didn’t figure anything special. Then the yelling got more intense, and then whatever household lost it with screaming. I could have sworn I heard “GOL!” somewhere in there, and then I remembered the Mexico/Iran game was early in the schedule. Sure enough, I turned on the TV and there it was; they were continuously looping the goal that Mexico had just scored minutes earlier.

It’s hard for people in the US to wrap their heads around how intensely soccer (or fútbol, as it’s said in Spanish, “football” in all other English-speaking countries) is permeated in the culture here in Mexico and in most all Latin-American nations. In fact, the US is a worldwide oddity in that soccer is not a major sport; moreover, the US doesn’t even have a true national sport. Baseball is probably the closest thing, but there’s no international league participation that instills national spririt the way soccer exists in other countries. I never have been able to get into soccer; I’ve tried, but it’s just a lot of teasing with too little tangible action for me. At least hockey moves faster and has fights.
Just in case Mexico wins (and I wish them well, but they aren’t that strong of a team from what I hear), I think I’m going to stay inside today before the craziness ensues.

Update, 1PM: Mexico won 3-1. Glad I’m stocked with provisions.

It happened before, it’s happened again–Amazon.com needs to start hacking away at the dead wood that obviously draws a salary despite any semblance of best practices. This arrived in my inbox this morning:

From: Amazon.com To: enrico@blahblah.com
Date: 3 Apr 2006 07:49:17 -0700
Subject: [placeholder for winning team] Wins the NCAA Tournament!

[placeholder for winning team] Wins the NCAA Tournament!

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Congratulations, [placeholder for winning team]! As someone who has purchased sports products from Amazon.com, we thought you should be the first to see our selection of NCAA championship products.

NCAA Championship Cap
Check out our championship hats, tees, and hooded sweatshirts in our NCAA Fan Shop.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=pe_sg_ncaa06champ_ftr?node=3386071

Available only while supplies last.

Obviously, this is in reference to tonight’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game between UCLA and Florida. The operative word is tonight, as in future, meaning DON’T SEND THE FRICKIN’ EMAIL YET! (and when you do, you might want to replace “[placeholder]…”)

Bozos.

If I were a coach in the NFL and I saw my running back or receiver slow down as they were crossing the end zone to be “cool” or “cute” the way the Chargers did today twice, I would have slapped that clown upside the head like a little bitch and said “Don’t you ever, EVER slow down on your way to the end zone…EVER.” I’d do the same thing with a batter slowing up at 1st base because he sees the shortstop field it and it seems an easy out. One never knows, and they have a job to do. It’s not like they’re working for minimum wage ya know.

To be fair, I was yelling the same thing at the Packers defense when they slowed up twice because an Eagles offensive player “looked” like he was going to score. If you’re close enough to dive, you may decide not to dive and I can respect that, but putting on the brakes well before the play is done is inexcusable.

On another subject, I was watching some college games today (I didn’t get to see Thursday’s sweet ass-whuppin’ UT put on A&M yet again) while cleaning up, and I noticed something was pleasantly missing: celebrating after every play. Useless celebrations after every play has long been a pet peeve of mine. If a defensive tackle flattens the quarterback on a sack, you betcha he’s gonna get up and pump his fist–that’s a special play. If a cornerback plucks a pass for an interception, runs, gets tackled and starts jumping up and down celebrating on his way back to the sideline, that’s expected. But when a wide receiver catches a normal pass or a running back picks up 5 yards, or a cornerback intereferes with a throw to his covered man, or special teams kick return unit stops the returner at the 30, that’s their job. That’s just another down, another good play. It doesn’t deserve a frickin’ pantomime of God-knows-what kind of epileptic contortions. Line up, get ready for the next play, and take your Dilantin if you have to.

I need sleep but I must vent!!!
I am a cowboys fans. I am the type that will tape the games and turn off TV’s to keep the score a “surprise” for later..
mock me if you must.
I tivo’ed todays MNF phil vs dallas. a

I was traveling back from work at the hospital tonight at 11:30pm mon. got in the car, turned it on

I had left it on espn radio that morning, so the radio turns back on when the car cranks.
I turned to changed the station, as my finger moved I hear the radio come to life, then the FIRST THING out of the speakers….:

“…. and so what do you think about that donovan mcnabb interception that won the come from behind game for the cowboys?….”

CRAP. too late

dammit, this medical stuff is a sacrifice!!!!!

I knew the Astros would be the long-shot for the World Series MLB Champion, but I never EVER thought they’d go 0-4, losing two in-a-row at home. Backe pitched an awesome game…just outstanding. Lidge yet again came in and screwed up a good thing, allowing the only score of the night.

At 1 out at the bottom of the 9th, “The Catch” (as I’m sure it will be known for a long time) made by White Sox shortstop Uribe was the moment I think we truly lost the game. Not only did it deflate the team and the fans (mind you, we had the tying run on 2nd), but that was a spectacular, unbelievable defensive play where you simply give props and go, “Wow.” Not even foul balls three rows into the side seats are safe.

The Astros were just not as hungry. Other than a few fist-pumping moments by Backe and a few other ’stros teammates, the game, while an incredible effort by both teams, they just couldn’t get their offense fired up.

Until next April. Please, I hope Clemens stays another year for real.