Active

I present to you a couple of unabashed activist plugs.

This one lifted from rosie's blog:
[ON CNN
“Jack Cafferty: Who cares if the Patriot Act get’s renewed. Want to abuse our civil liberties-Just do it! Who cares about the Geneva conventions? Want to torture prisoners-Just do it! Who cares about rules concerning the identity of CIA gents. Want to reveal the name of a covert operative? Just do it!

Who cares about whether the intelligence concerning WMD’s is accurate. You want to invade Iraq? Just do it. Who cares about qualifications to serve on the nation’s highest court. Want to nominate a personal friend with no qualifications? Just do it.

And the latest outrage, which I read about in “The New York Times” this morning, who cares about needing a court order to eavesdrop on American citizens. Want to wiretap their phones conversations? Just do it….
What a joke. A very cruel, very sad joke.”]


And another from a fellow Methodist's e-mail.

[Friends:

I write to you during this holiday season to ask you to sign on to a "statement of conscience" against the war in Iraq signed by 96 United Methodist bishops. More than 2800 people have joined the bishops in this statement. My hope is we can garner at least 10,000 signatures and carry this statement to the President and the Congress. Many of you have your own mailing lists. Please ask your friends and contacts to sign on to the statement. One need not be United Methodist to support the bishops' statement against the war! The link to the statement is www.umc-gbcs.org/nowar.
Thank you for your help.
Happy Holidays,

Jim Winkler
General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society
of the United Methodist Church
100 Maryland Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002
(w:) 202-488-5620
(f:) 202-488-5699
jwinkler@umc-gbcs.org]

Disney

I'm planning a trip for March to Disney World. That's right, the most magical place on earth. I have been wanting to take Erica there as long as I've known her. I think maybe we'll just go. Carpe.

Anyone know any Orlando area wedding planners???

Cases

My case file is expanding rapidly. How cool to know that I have digital images from my first year of residency that I can keep forever. They end up in my e-mail, on the computer, online at Yahoo photos, and on my new thumb drive. Now if I could just synchronize all of the above...

Quiz:
What does this coronal CT image of the abdomen show?
A. Appendicitis
B. Bowel ischemia
C. Bowel obstruction
D. This isn't a coronal image; it's sagittal

Three cheers for the first right answer.

Angio

My month on interventional (angio) is coming to an end. This is a very bad and very good thing. I am loving angio and will consider it as a career possibility - if I can get through the year-long fellowship of late days. It comes with all the fun, thrill, satisfaction of a surgical subspecialty. Only with fewer complications, shorter procedure times, and MUCH shorter incisions! Unfortunately, it also implies that some people will get sick because of you - and you have to be called to fix things. In addition to wearing lead aprons and standing on your own two feet for hours on end.

Sigh. Decisions. Maybe Erica was right all along - peds interventional is the way to go for me. I honestly can't imagine a more rewarding career. Awesome.

Minneapolis has been our most recent fantasy location. Midwest city, plenty big, not too big, lots of job opportunities, good reimburesment, good schools, culture, etc. Actually, this town has Everything with a capital E. What's the rub? Obvious - the weather. Four seasons sounds nice, but it's that stupid winter part. I've been asking Meredith about what's involved in plowing snow. At Sewanee, Erica Brooke used to show me up as a super-talented windshield scraper diva. I'm lost when it comes to real winters. Alas, all these have seemed inconsequential as I have become more and more excited about the impending move (3 1/2 yrs from now) to Minnesota.

No peds fellowship in that whole state. Can you believe it? If we end up there, it'll be after I get peds trained somewhere else. Not the end of the world, but I had it all planned..... I am so ADD when it comes to future plans. Hopefully this one will become less desirable with time, because I have REALLY been focused on Minneapolis.

What else has been going on... got the Christmas tree up, preliminary shopping done. I went to a Sierra Club meeting last week and made some good contacts. The usual call routine, church on the weekend, hanging out with friends Sunday night for cookie party.

We're planning on Beauty and the Beast at the Rep for the 30th and the Peabody New Year's Eve Party the 31st. I'll be on call the 1st, so must watch my champagne intake. Or not.