We had a good weekend filled with fine dining (more on that later in the week) and excellent sports. The IRL race was fantastic this weekend, filled with 3 wide racing for the final 50 laps at the Chicagoland Speedway. There was lots of passing and very close calls. Luckily there were no major crashes despite the 215+ mph speeds. Some how points leader Will Power did not get enough fuel on the final pit stop and had to stop again with just 2 laps to go. This in addition to owner Chip Ganassi's risky move to get fuel only gave Dario Franchitti the win. After seeing this race I have no idea how NASCAR is more popular than Indycar in this country. These Indycars are so quick and the racing is so close I think it's a lot more exciting to watch. The races are consistently close at Chicago and due to its close proximity to Indianapolis I would seriously consider attending this race in the future.
Over in Europe the F1 guys had a great race in Belgium at the famous Spa circuit. Spa is one of my favorite tracks on the F1 calendar and is considered to be one of the most challenging race circuits in the world. As usual, weather played a huge factor in Belgium as the off-again, on-again rain played havoc with tire and race strategies.
Back here in Indianapolis we have the MotoGP race going on as well. As of this post it has not aired on TV yet, but I plan on watching it later this afternoon. I am more interested in seeing the attendance and what everyone has to say about the track and the future of the race. Although I read they've already signed on for an additional year. I did read about this tragic event that occurred before the main race this morning. Another reminder of how dangerous racing really is, especially motorcycle racing. It is amazing there aren't more stories like this truthfully.
Shifting gears a bit, the US Open starts Monday. The US Open and Wimbledon are truthfully two of my favorite sporting events of the year. I am not a huge tennis fan but I do enjoy watching tennis every once in a while. Ladies #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki won her warm-up tournament in New Haven this weekend and is sure to have a strong showing in Flushing Meadows this year. I will also be rooting for Maria Kirilenko as she is one of my favorites. On the men's side, I am hoping Andy Roddick has a strong showing this year as he is my favorite male player. He consistently under-achieves in my opinion, but he is a lot of fun to watch and his interviews are usually entertaining as well. If nothing else he provides for some good WAG watching with his wife Brooklyn Decker.
Caroline Wozniacki:
Maria Kirilenko:
Andy Roddick:
Andy's wife Brooklyn Decker, providing the WAG action on the sidelines:
When I started watching Lost a few months ago I really had no idea what I was about to watch. I thought it was about survivors of a plane wreck trying to get rescued from the island they crashed on. It didn't take long to realize that the show was a bit more complicated than I originally thought. Last week I watched the final episode and by the time the series wrapped up in season six almost all of the questions (finally!!) had been answered. I was going to do an episode-by-episode summary of the show but thought that would take too much time and plus I've been watching this show like 5 years after it first debuted so I thought I was a little behind the ball to do that. Then I was going to do a summary of each season but honestly summing up an entire season is pretty darn difficult too. So much happens with each episode and more questions are asked than ever answered that I thought it would be too hard to sum up each season. I've already done one post on the TV series but thought since I enjoyed the show so much it was worth it to do a second post. Plus I know so much more now than I did when I wrote the first post. Don't worry if the rest of this post doesn't make any sense. If you haven't seen the show it is pretty confusing. Truthfully, things are pretty confusing even if you've seen the show.
Spoiler alert - Below this point major plot events are discussed so read at your own risk.
When the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 landed on the island it was quickly apparent that this was no ordinary island. It was a tropical island yet there were polar bears roaming. And the smoke monster (a pillar of black smoke that lurked in the jungle and sometimes attacked people) made its presence felt in the very first episode. As the people set up camp and worked on getting rescued they eventually ran into another group of people on the island that they called "the others." The others are descendants from the Dharma initiative, a research project from the 1970s designed to study unique electromagnetic properties found at various points on the island. The others took orders from the ageless protector of the island named Jakob and their job was to protect the island. As the crash survivors were trying to protect themselves from the others, they found a secret Dharma hatch which housed a computer where a button had to be pressed every 108 minutes in order to protect the world. As the survivors are arguing if all of this is real, they capture Benjamin Linus, the mortal leader of the others. The others and the survivors clash numerous times, mostly because the others are kidnapping the survivors in order to do experiments on them, mostly fertility experiments as pregnant women have not been able to survive to term on the island. Linus has an intense passion to protect the island, however it quickly becomes apparent that the two groups of people will have to work together in order to survive and protect the island.
The story comes down to the classic good versus evil. Jakob and his brother, the man in black, have two different philosophies regarding the island. Jakob wants to remain on the island in order to protect it. The island serves as the gateway that keeps good and evil in the world balanced and prevents evil from dominating. The man in black desperately wants to leave the island and his departure would allow evil to dominate in the world. The man in black cannot simply just leave the island, however. Specific circumstances must be in place in order for him to leave.
As the survivors and the others are clashing, the man in black is gaining power and momentum in order to kill Jakob and leave the island. Using old Dharma equipment the survivors are able to get a hold of a rescue boat in order to leave the island. However, the boat that arrives is not there to rescue them but instead deliver an army to kill Ben Linus. This is famously revealed when Charlie writes on his hand "Not Penny's Boat." With all of this going on the others and survivors are forced to join forces and Ben does the only thing he can to protect the island and himself - turn the underground wheel which releases enormous amounts of electromagnetic energy, sending the island traveling through time and changing locations as the electromagnetism alters the space-time continuum.
At this point the plot splits into multiple story lines as different characters are followed at different points in their lives. It becomes ultra-confusing but suffice it to say that through a series of back-stories it is revealed that it was not coincidence that the survivors happened to be on the exact plane that crashed. They were placed there by Jakob as he was looking for a replacement to protect the island. The survivors make it back to the island where they defeat the man in black and protect the island. The last episode shows them all gathered in a church where they walk into a bright light, presumably into heaven.
I understand that if you've never seen the show the above summary doesn't make any sense at all. I don't watch much drama on TV but this show is easily the most complex show I've ever seen. The fact that they can have major plot events happen in the very first episode that aren't explained until one of the final episodes of the series is amazing. The way the show asks so many questions and how it reveals the answers slowly over time keeps you coming back for more. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started watching the show but what I got was one of the most intriguing and well written shows I've ever seen. Now that I am finished with the series I am going to miss watching the show, miss the mystery of not knowing what is going on. The real purpose behind this post is that I am not ready to move on with my evening life. I want more Lost. It is an amazing show, and as long as you can handle the science fiction of smoke monsters and time travel, I would recommend it to anyone interested in watching a great TV drama.
Below is an in-depth video summary:
Below is a less in-depth summary:
Below is a collection of Sawyer saying "son of a bitch." It is a bit of a joke among Lost fans because he says it so much.
Below is Juliet, played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Juliet is the reproductive endocrinologist who starts out helping Ben research the fertility issues on the island. She dislikes Ben because he keeps her on the island much longer than he originally promised and she ends up switching from the others to the survivors.
Guess where I spent my afternoon. Not at the hospital. Not seeing patients at the clinic. Rather, I spent it playing golf. I can't think of anything more stereotypical for a doctor to do on a nice summer afternoon. The interns got an invitation a month or so ago to play in the hospital's annual golf fund raiser scramble. I wasn't going to go because I don't play golf and figured it would be ultra embarrassing. However, the other interns were going and I didn't want to seem antisocial and they convinced me to go so I signed up.
I slept really poorly last night and I think one of the reasons was because I was so nervous for today's match. My group consisted of another intern and two ENT doctors who I have never met before. One of the docs was pretty good but the rest of us were pretty bad. Golf is much harder than it looks, and I was even using the good doc's fancy clubs. I'd say for every good shot I hit I had nine bad ones. I lost probably 10 balls. I had a heck of a slice off the tee. Our group finished in last place in the scramble. The above picture shows me with the award I won for finishing last. It has to be one of my proudest moments.
Never the less, I had a good time and it was certainly worth the experience and the day off work. I don't see myself picking up golf anytime soon. However it is a good reason to be outside for a bit and I plan on attending next year's charity scramble to defend my title.
Last weekend I had two separate conversations with two different people about how this was probably going to be the last year that I drive the Grand Prix. It is simply too hot during the summer months here and I spend too much time driving around the city to not have air conditioning. It was a real shame, I said, because the overall the car runs so well. Fitting that a few days after having this conversation with two different people, I had to take my car into the shop. Wednesday morning I couldn't get it to start. The radio would come on and all of the lights and everything, but the engine made no attempt to start. I tried 4 or 5 times then gave up. I came out 20 minutes later and tried again and it worked fine like nothing had happened. I remember it doing the exact same thing 5 or 6 months ago and thought this was a good sign that I needed to take it in and get looked at.
I took it in early Wednesday morning and they didn't have a diagnosis until Friday afternoon. Because of parts they won't get it finished until Monday. I am pretty annoyed with the amount of time it is taking, honestly. It is quite inconvenient to only have one car between the two of us. This is especially true because I have meetings at various times of the day and am typically not in one location all day long. The problem lies with the security system. If you remember, the security system is the final straw that did us in with Sarah's Alero and we decided to get rid of it shortly after $1200 fix. This security system is different from the Alero's, but still fitting that it would be the security system here that would break. Basically there is a wire from the ignition to a computer that controls if the car will start. The ignition uses an electronic box on the key to determine resistance. If the correct key is used the correct amount of resistance is produced and the car starts. Over time the wires in this system fray and eventually break, essentially electronically disabling the car. So today they dismantled the steering column in order to replace the ignition and all of the wires.
I wasn't real excited about putting a bunch of money into this car. I was quoted that this would cost around $300. At the same time I want to delay having car payments until the spring when winter has passed and I am closer to being able to moonlight and supplement my income a bit. I decided to go ahead and pay it.
I called this post "So It Begins" because in my experience, when a car hits 100,000 miles, plus or minus 10,000 miles, the problems begin and it seems like it is one thing after another from there on out. This car has treated me well in the 2 and a half years I've owned it. Hopefully I am wrong about this car.
Our hospital orientation last month was 2 and a half days long and was an opportunity for the new house staff to be introduced to everyone in the various departments and be lectured to about what services the various departments offer. Out of everything we were told during orientation, there was nothing that was emphasized more than the importance of using EMR (electronic medical records). Why? Money. The hospital stands to get a lot of federal funding if a certain percentage of physician orders are done electronically versus on paper. A majority of the doctors at my hospital, and at many other hospitals I worked at while on rotations, dislike using computers. I used to think it was just them being old geezers but the more I've been forced to use it, the more I am beginning to understand their pains. This past Monday we were supposed to go "live" with the computer physician order entry system and they were going to stop accepting paper orders. Kind of ironic that on that same morning the servers went offline because of an apparent water leak which damaged some of the computers. Luckily for the hospital they were able to take apart some of the servers and use fans to dry their internal parts (I hope the hospital has insurance for these things...) and get them up and running again. I couldn't help but to think they should check the security videos to see if anyone broke into the server room to sabotage the system.
A lot of these systems are flat-out bad. There is no other way around it. Lemme give you an example. Let's say you want to order a CBC, a simple, routine blood test, for tomorrow morning. On paper you would flip to the appropriate page and write this: "8/17/2010 1900 CBC in AM." You are done. That whole process takes about 10 seconds, maybe less. If you were going to order the CBC on a computer, you would have to do this:
log into Windows
wait for Windows to load all of its stuff
Double click and log into Chartlink
search and select your patient
click on order entry
click on orders
click on ancillary
click on labs
type in "CBC" for search
change the time to "in AM"
double click on CBC
press process
review the order, then press "process"
electronically sign the order
Whew! And that is what it takes to order a CBC on the computer. You are talking a few minutes to order the CBC on the computer, and that is assuming you are already logged into Windows. As I said, the CBC is a routine blood test, so multiply that few minutes by 10 patients, 20 patients, or more, and you start to see where the problem begins.
The CBC was an easy example. Try doing something more complex on the computer, like ordering medications. If the patient is to take a simple pill once or twice a day it usually isn't a big deal. But if the dosing is more complex, say three 500 mg pills in the morning and two 500 mg pills in the evening, it gets mind-boggling difficult to do on the computer. On paper, I would just write out what I typed in the previous sentence. On the computer, I go through a similar process as listed above to find the correct medication, but beyond that it becomes quite difficult to get the correct dosing schedule. This actually happened to me on Sunday. There was simply no way to say take three pills in the morning and two in the evening. I tried typing it in the comments section, but that section is restricted to 20 characters (and spaces count as a character. Why?!? Why are we restricted to 20 characters?? It is ridiculous.). I tried entering the medication twice with the intent on scheduling the medication differently, and it wouldn't let me do that either because it said the medication was a duplicate. I fought with the computer for 10 minutes trying to accomplish something that would take me 20 seconds on paper, and finally I had to give up and do it on paper anyway. Keep in mind that I have a degree in computer science and am fairly computer savvy. If I can't figure out how to do this, likely the majority of people using the system won't be able to figure it out either.
Again, the more I have to use this system, the more I am starting to sound like the older docs who didn't grow up with computers their whole life. As someone who has a software design background, I can tell you that there are several design flaws in this software that make it so difficult to use people hate it. They went for the Cavalier model when they should have went for something closer to a Cadillac, which was a big mistake.
The software we use at the clinic, called Allscripts, is OK. It has a steep learning curve and some of the same fundamental problems. The problems that I have with Allscripts mostly originate with difficulty finding things. For instance, today I saw a kid with ringworm. On paper I would just write "ringworm" or "tinea corporis" as the diagnosis. In Allscripts, I couldn't find this diagnosis in our diagnosis list so I had to go to google and search for the ICD-9 code for ringworm. Allscripts also gives you too many choices on physical exam. Instead of writing "rrr no m/g/r" (regular rate and rhythm, no murmurs/gallops/rubs) you have to go through 30 or more sub-menus (no joke) and click on various little boxes to essentially say the same thing. The whole process is just tedious. But it is better than the hospital system and once you learn all of the weird intricate ways the system works and where things are located it isn't too bad. It still isn't as quick as paper, though. I think overall there is a lot of improvement that needs to be made in the software design and usability of such systems. EMR is here to stay and I will use it for the rest of my career. I just hope things get a bit better sooner rather than later.
It is hot outside, ladies and gentlemen. So hot that this might be my last year with the Grand Prix. When I was on rotations I didn't seem to do as much driving as I am now with my residency. Currently I am spending between 25 and 45 minutes one way in my car, depending on where exactly I am going and what time of day I am driving. Plus I seem to be driving more in the daytime now instead of early morning and late evening. Also it is one thing to drive around in a T shirt and shorts, but quite another to drive around wearing long dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie. I literally had to change all of my clothes this afternoon when I got home from work as they were soaking with sweat.
The last time I paid to have my A/C fixed in the Grand Prix it only worked for a few months before it was pushing out hot air again. Next year when I can start moonlighting I might pick up another job so I can more easily afford some type of newer car with air conditioning. I think I am to the point now where I am simply spending too much time in my car not to have a working A/C.
In the past I wasn't a very big fan of wings. They were always too messy and difficult to eat. Wings were quite popular in Erie being so close to Buffalo. There were several small, local bars and restaurants that made their own wings that were actually quite good. While we were living in Erie the whole concept of wings grew on me as I was surrounded by a wide variety of different types of flavors and people who frequently ate them when we went out. Sarah and I even made it to Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the birthplace of the modern chicken wing. Since restaurants started offering boneless wings regularly I have been getting them routinely. I probably order them once a month now. What I thought I would do is review two of my favorite wings places here in Indy. I don't really notice there being a ton of local places that specialize in wings here like there were in Erie so these places are national and are easily found in all major cities.
Pizza Hut Wing Street Location: Multiple, even in smaller towns Price Range: $-$$ Rating: 5 Cheeseburgers
We had a Pizza Hut in the student union at DePauw that I ate at quite frequently and it was pretty gross, honestly. They made personal pizzas that would sit under heating lamps for hours and typically would be terrible. The only reason I ate there so much was because I was frequently in a hurry and it was something quick and easy to grab for lunch. Subsequently I went four years, from DePauw graduation to the present, without visiting a Pizza Hut. I was burned out. When we moved to our new apartment, we moved 6 minutes from a Buffalo Wild Wings and 3 minutes from a Pizza Hut. One Friday evening I was really craving their bread sticks so I went online and ordered some. I decided to try their wings too and let me tell you - they are fantastic. I was very surprised at how good they are. I have ordered the 10 boneless BBQ Honey wings on multiple occasions and I consistently get 10 very large wings soaking in sauce. The only thing I can say negative about the place is it doesn't have the ambiance in the restaurant that a Hooters or BWW has. You would never go there to watch a game or hang out. I always order takeout from this place. But if you are looking for amazing wings for takeout at a reasonable price, you will not be disappointed going to Pizza Hut's Wing Street.
Hooters Location: Castleton, multiple Price: $$ (depending on how much beer you have) Rating: 5 Cheeseburgers
I am not afraid or embarrassed to admit it: I am a pretty big fan of Hooters. I think the whole concept is great. A place where you can get bar food, have a few beers, and be served by pretty girls, what is wrong with that? I am even looking into opening my own store sometime in the future when I have enough capital to afford a franchise. The location will remain top secret as I don't want someone to read this blog and steal my idea. I have been to numerous Hooters restaurants in multiple states and have found the food to be consistent in all locations. I therefore rate the restaurant on the attractiveness of the wait staff. That is one of the big reasons for going in the first place anyway, right? There are four Hooters locations in the Indianapolis area. I haven't been to Hooters of Greenwood in many years so that location is out of this discussion. Out of the remaining three locations - Downtown, Speedway, and Castleton, the Castleton on 82nd street has by far the prettiest wait staff. Downtown might be a close second, but I live so much closer to Castleton I rarely go downtown at all, let alone to go to Hooters. Truthfully, I only make it to the Castleton Hooters every once in a while. Despite the fact that I live relatively close, it is a pain in the butt to drive there during dinner time as it is rush hour and you will sit in stop and go traffic on the expressway. However, they have theme night once per month and I usually make it there about every other month. I usually drag poor Sarah along too and she is a good sport about it. Last night we went and it was back to school night. Half of the girls were dressed in school girl outfits, the other half were dressed in toga party outfits. It was probably a 'B' level theme night. Better than some, but not as good as nurses night or Valentine's Day lingerie night. I think the wings are pretty good, although not as good as Wing Street or BWW. However, they are closely behind the other places, and the Buffalo Chicken sandwich and cheeseburger are really good too. And it's tough to beat the overall atmosphere of Hooters if you are looking for a cool place to watch the game or hang out with some friends for a couple of hours. And trust me - after spending an entire day in a nursing home, you will need a nice environment to let some steam off.
Below is one of my favorite Hooters girls of all time, Miss July 2006 and the 2007 Playmate of the Year Sara Underwood. She can occasionally be seen on G4's Attack of the Show, one of my favorite shows on TV and where I got the concept for the format of this blog. On the surface she seems to bubbly and dingy for me but she is super cool on AOTS and I've been a fan since seeing her there. Enjoy!
I successfully completed my first rotation as in intern. I think overall things went pretty well. I got a good evaluation from my attending, which is always nice. I really liked working with him a lot but he works ridiculous hours and truthfully I was ready to move on to the next experience.
Today I started outpatient family medicine. It was kind of a slow day because the attending I was supposed to be with in the morning was out of town due to a missed flight. I am spending approximately 75% of my time doing outpatient general practice stuff, and the other 25% of my time working in nursing homes as this is now part of the requirements for family medicine residency.
The most exciting part of the day was the fact that I got my very first patient! She is a 20 year old female who came in for asthma flare-ups. I came up with my own treatment plan and am having her come back in a few weeks to check and make sure everything is working alright. Maybe for the first time ever I felt like a real doctor! I am doing junior high sports physicals tonight at a local junior high, which should be fun.
On a complete side note, kind of humorous to see DePauw on this list again. Go big or go home, that is my motto.
