McKinley

I have to say, the McKinley street fair was underwhelming at best. There were a lot of booths that seemed to revolve around Jesus. There was less art and more tchotchkes. No derby girls as far as I could see. However there was a person in a bee suit (below) and lots and lots of dogs. It might be because I made the mistake of going too early, but while I was there, I have to say this street fair did not make me want to return next year. The music, however, was pretty good - bluesy stuff - but it was overshadowed by the guy with the CD-back track playing hymns on his saxophone flanked by two lions with crowns and a speaker plastered with God and Jesus-related bumper stickers. The best part of the fair: The pirate and the Hawaiian Ice (a.k.a. SnoCones - see the remnant at left).

Afterwards I hit up Proctor again to go buy some of that tempting lavender I photographed last time. I also bought myself a jump rope with the intent on exercising. Much to my dismay, the lavender never bloomed and my downstairs neighbor came up to complain about the jump rope only 6 minutes after using it. (note Pirate Booty at left)

Now I am on Internal Medicine. This rotation promises to be harder, longer hours, and overall more grueling than most others. It lasts a month and a half - lucky me, my month and a half seems to be 7 weeks long instead of the usual six. But, really, I can't complain too much, I do like in-patient work. More than your average FP bear, I suppose.

Typical day for me: 6 Am arrive, pre-round until 7, report at 7 (where we hear about overnight admissions for the three inpatient services: peds, FP and medicine), that ends around 7:30-8 then we round until 9 when we have EKG rounds that last until 9:15 when we then have ICU rounds, ICU rounds vary in length and afterwards we usually get to do a few things until medicine rounds. Rounds try to end around noon when there is usually teaching of some sort. Then sometimes there are even more meetings and teaching things at 12:30. Then the afternoon we can actually start doing our work for the day beyond rounding. When on call I cover for all three services: peds, medicine and FP. Legally we are supposed to get 10 hours off between shifts and work no more than 30 hours in one chunk. The 10 hour rule has been the most difficult since M-Th calls "end" at 8 but, for most, the work is rarely done by then and I have to be there by morning report at 7 the next day at the latest.

Overall I'm liking medicine. Yes, it's long hours and the cross-cover is rough, but I like the to-do lists and the team approach to patient care. We'll see if I feel the same way after a few more weeks (1 week down, 7 to go).

Randomly, I went to Walgreens to get new contact lens solution (according to a new study, ReNu is incompatible with Acuvue contacts- FYI) and on the way there saw a drunk man in a baseball jersey stumble comically on the sidewalk and fall in a grand way - arms flailing, legs going up in the air. He was in a busy area with lots of bars and clubs and looked to be fine (other than his drunken state) but it was one of those moments where I felt a little less than enthusiastic about people in general. This reminds me of an AWESOME movie I saw about how people are stupid. It's called Idiocracy (written by Mike Judge the genius behind Office Space). Click on here and read about it. Then watch it and realize, that while you laugh at the TV-sofa/toilet and WWF star President, it's a bit too close too true to not be scary. Definitely one of the more fun movies I've seen in a while.
(tug boat pulling big ship out my window the other day).