I'm on Facebook, and I can't quit...

I'm sorry, I've been away, I've delved into a section of the interwebs where people congregate and update their status and post pictures of their friends and add friends to their inner circle...
I'm on Facebook.
And I can't stop.

I find that I'm totally hooked, updating my status incessantly, and checking out pictures and posts from other people. I've connected with old high school friends and friends from work and school. All in one place.

That's where I'm at now.
So if I've sent you a friends invite, please add me...

Putting off Differential Diagnosis....

Yeah, sitting in a coffee shop, trying to study some stupid crap, but instead I get the urge to procrastinate (my special mutant ability) and put up a post....

So far, fall semester sucks a55.  I truely cannot wait till all this school is done and I have some kind of normal weekend life and social life.  I told the first year class that classic NAVY SEALs line... "Look to your left, look to your right... One of these people will not be here next semester."

I think I made them mad.  I don't think I'm their favorite upperclassman.

Hey, I'm just keeping it real.

Anyway, did I mention SOCOM?  No?  Then you better pull up your damn boot straps and get to fragging, mister, cuz it's coming in 2 weeks.  I've been playing the beta version, and I'm not having a good time. Glitches, mysterious boots from game, trouble connecting, borken interfaces...

(time out... hot chick just walked in....)

Where was I?  Yeah, socom is good, but it's got alot of flaws still, and needs work.  I, as well as alot of other people, are hoping that it all gets fixed, and we can all log on and get our frag on with little trouble...

That's all for now, gotta get back to reading this damn textbook and try to retain some information....

All done!

Hooray! I finally finished my eight week rotation at Schneider Children's Hospital!
Passed with flying colors. I'll miss all the help and fun I had with the staff there and all the babies. I found that little babies are so cute to easy to handle. I mean they're totally easier than dealing with a stinky old person...
Thanks to all the staff at SCH: Christina, Melissa, Tracy, Jaime, and all the nurses, social workers, case managers, and doctors who made it so educational and entertaining. A special thanks goes out to all the patients who allowed me to pretend I knew what I was doing and actually trust me to treat them. (jokes on you!) LOL.
Now it's all back to the daily grind. Back to the urban slum. Back to doing more research and reading peer-reviewed scientific articles for various classes, all in the name to learn more about "evidence-based practice". I mean, can't we just tell people that something works and not really have to prove it? Take it from me, once you establish a position of authority, people will believe anything you say...

Now, back to work.

TWO MORE DAYS LEFT.

Well, two more days and I'm done my affiliation at my suburban children's hospital and next week I'm back at the urban jungle of my real job, the major metropolitan hospital...
So the story goes. It's been a blast playing with all the babies there, especially the really, really tiny ones in the NICU. Another notch in my belt.

But onto more important stuff...
I've been rockin out with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Can I just tell you how friggin' awesome this game is?!?! I mean, the graphics are totally sweet and the game rocks. No wonder it got rated a perfect 10/10! Seriously, if you have a PS3, THIS IS THE GAME TO GET!

Three weeks done, five more to go!

So, I'm done three weeks of my clinical affiliation and moving onto the all-important fourth week (time for midterm evaluations). And I feel like I'm always doing research and reading research articles and writing stuff down. Sure, I'm learning alot, but it's alot of work. I'm looking into the connection of Shone's complex, failure to thrive, and developmental delay. Any thoughts?
This is in addition to the weekly critical article analyses... So it's alot.
But the other times, it's a walk in the park compared to my other job, which I'll be saying hello again to in five weeks.

Second week done, six more to go!

Friday. The close of another week on the pediatrics affiliation. Had a couple other conferences and rounds with the MDs, talked about private practice issues, differential diagnoses, wheelchair and equipment issues; surprisingly, those docs turned out to be a bunch of friendly and informative groups of fellows.
Phrase of the week: OCCAM'S RAZOR. (look it up)
Started taking a lead role in patient treatment planning this week, jumping out of the nest, cutting that cord... whatever analogy you wish to insert here. Sometimes I feel like a dog on a leash. I feel like I know what to do, but I'm just waiting to be let loose on the floors. Other times, I feel lost in all the issues of treatment and planning and rationalization, that I get overwhelmed, but my instructor is great and gives me a hint whenever I feel shaky.
Had a couple deaths this past week. Natural process, especially on the oncology floor. Trick is to stay upbeat for the rest of the staff and patients, stay objective, don't get attached.
I think that's the lesson of the week.

One day down, thirty-nine more to go...

Today was the first day at the new pediatric affiliation. Not so bad, there was alot of stuff to learn, like where the hell is everything and how not to get lost around the hospital...
And the biggest lesson of the day: patients cry.
Yeah, before it was like, "So you're crying. Big deal, that's what I'm here for, I bring the pain. They call me the PAIN BRINGER."
But now, it's like, they cry and then what to do then?
You can't yell at some kid for crying cuz he's in pain...
Sometimes, you gotta soothe the little buggers.

So yeah, lesson of the day: find your softer side, dammit!

Pike Place is good, and cheap, costs less than one coffee.

FYI to all your metropolitanites out there. Starbucks recently added this new coffee blend called, Pike Place, to their lineup. It's a tad better than their regular roast. It's not as bitter as other coffees and it'll be cheaper than getting a mocha or something like that.
For all your frugal coffee drinkers, order a TALL, but tell them to put it in a GRANDE cup. That way, you can fill up the rest of the grande size with milk and sugar, instead of throwing out some of the coffee in a tall size to add milk and sugar. What do you think of that?
Even better, save your cup and get a refill! Refills are only 50 cents!
So to recap,
TALL PIKE PLACE in GRANDE cup: $1.90
GRANDE refill: 50 cents.
Price of one grande pike place: $2.10.
So that's two grande's for less!
Practically free!

It's been quite some time since an update.

The last time I've updated this, I put up a video that was part of a final assignment for an adolescence class at school.  I know I've lost alot of people viewing this site since it's not updated regularly.  It's all about the lack of time I have.

But I"m not going to tell you something that you may already know.

I've been busy with school and work, and in 2 weeks, I'll be leaving.

I'll be leaving work, a place I've been at for the past 8 years, to do a clinical affiliation at a children's hospital in Long Island.  I'll be there for 8 weeks, so perhaps I'll have a little more free time to update this with new experiences with the kids once I get there.
So, thanks again for stopping by, see you soon again, hopefully.
Don't be a stranger.

Four down, Six to go!

Alright, I'm finished my semester, too some hard exams and now it's two weeks off.
Pediatrics final: done.
Assessment final: done.
Call of Duty 4: in progress.
Two weeks and my next task is to complete Call of Duty 4 online play so I can rank up to level 55.
What can I say, I need to decompress, alot....

I've finished four semesters now of my doctorate and I've got six more to go, 2010 can't get here fast enough.

AHHHH!!! It's the Red Ring of Death!

First my hard drive, and now my XBox! Is there an electromagnetic field around me that breaks expensive electronic devices? My XBox360 just went kaput on me, after I just bought a new rechargeable controller and new game. Doesn't that suck?
Good news: Microsoft will repair it for free.
Bad news: No XBox for over 6 weeks!
Damn, looks like I'll have to spend more time on the SOCOM, or studying...
I'll let you guess which one I'll do first.

Welcome back, thanks for reading!

Damn, I know I've been lax in my postings and not really updating daily. Man, I've got things to do. The weather today was horrible, it rained cats and dogs. But with my trusty RedLedge gear, I was able to venture out and not get wet.
I know I used to put alot of links out here and put you onto some of the more interesting stuff on the internets, but I'm still doing that. Check out the sidebar. You see that pk's shared items there?
That where I usually just tag stories of interest and pop them up there for you enjoyment instead of taking up space here in the main column.
So all the content goodness is still here. It's just been a bit modified to fit my busy lifestyle.
Cuz those supermodels aren't going to save themselves....

Technical Dificulties: Hard Drive Crash

Damn, my heart has been ripped out of my chest and I sink into darkness. My external hard drive is no more.
I tried hooking it up to my laptop, trying different cables, even took it to a specialist to mount it in a desktop, but nothing.... Looks like I'll have to send it out and spend a big chunk of change to get all my data back. Damn you, LaCie!!!!

Here's a Toyota WoW commercial to cheer you up:

It's been awhile....how have you been?

Damn, it's been awhile since I've made any entry here or any additions. School has started up again and it's pretty much in full swing. I've got 2 exams upcoming weekend after Columbus Day weekend, and a Practical, which is basically a verbal and physical exam.
Looks like school has again taken over my life and my free time. But I've been a bad boy.
Since the release of HALO 3 on the 25th, I've been putting in alot of hours to that... Finished the game in 2 days and now I'm starting it again on Legendary difficulty, which is proving to be a slow progress for one person.
So I'm trying to keep this light and not get so bogged down with school work. But I'm really tired now and really need to sleep more, and stop playing HALO so much late at night.



Thanks for reading.

I'm off to Woodbury Commons! Outlet shopping!

So it's Saturday. And what better way to fight rabid sale crowds than to venture north to the commerce capital of New York, Woodbury Commons. I've set aside a plan of attack to hit some key stores and decrease wasted time wandering around. I'm looking for shoes...

Woo Hoo!!! Just finished my final exam!

Good news: Woot! Just wrapped up my final Pathology exam for my first year of the DPT program. (Aced it) One more step towards demanding people address me as "Doctor". Sweet!
Bad news: Only two more years to go... bummer.

Wanna buy a cellphone?

I'm "cell-ing" my old phone. (Get it? Cell-ing?) Awesome.
Anyway, you can check it out here, bid for 50 bucks and it's yours. It's in great shape. Awesome buy. Hurry, auction ends in five days...
W800i Walkman cellphone

Got a new cell phone!

Yeah! Picked up the Sony Ericsson w610i today in Brooklyn. Sweet and thin.
Still trying to get used to the new features, but still love that walkman feature, can't wait till my 2gig micro memory stick comes in the mail...

Bachelor Party Time!

"Whoa! The night before class and two days before a final exam?"
My brain says to me...
I ignore it and pay the price the next day.

London trip is over, hello NYC.

So I'm back from my London adventure. Although I went to see my fiance, who's doing a month-long internship for a publishing company there, I also went for some sightseeing.
It was a great trip. I've never been to Europe before so a lot of it was novel to me.
I never thought I had to be so careful when crossing the street, seems like the cars came from all directions. The public transportation system, the Underground, was in some ways, better than the New York City subway. The train stations were cleaner, they had partitions between the platform and the track, and they had signs for when the next train was going to arrive. Imagine all that in New York City. Instead of sitting around, not knowing when the next train was coming, you knew exactly that the next train on the Jubilee line was in 3 minutes. Great, isn't it?
Also of note were the people. I suppose that it was the area I was in, South Quay, but they all seemed to be young, beautiful, and upwardly mobile. It was like they all were 24-30 years old and were in great shape. I don't know. Maybe it was just the area.
Corporate housing is great. You got a pool, a gym, a doorman, and heated floors. Heated floors. Can you believe it?
But everything was expensive, maybe it was because of the weak American dollar, it was like two Dollars to every Pound. So even though a Starbucks latte only costs about three Pounds, that's six American dollars. Whoa.
Regardless, it was a great time. Saw a lot of things. Even got to see the Queen of England at Windsor Castle. Had high tea in Windsor. Saw Buckingham Palace, Trafalga Square, Piccadilly Circus, and rode on the London Eye. That was a doozy. It goes pretty high, if you know what I mean.
Check out the pictures...