Saturday, December 07, 2002

Well, the stupid senate election is finally over here in Lousiana. It really annoys me that they use negative campaign tactics to get people elected. I personally ignore them because they obviously are distorted but at the same time, so are the positive ads so I guess there's nothing to really use as a basis to elect someone unless you happen to be a person who only votes for one party or going back to elementary and high school days, the person who's the coolest and most attractive. Here the issue of who was the most conservative and catholic apparently was something big since those were big in the tv spots. Funny. When I lived in Eugene, it seemed like candidates were using conservative as a bad thing. So many of you may know that I enjoy random facts and history stuff. Well, tonight I learned that despite this state being all about conservative ideas and having a Republican governor, the Louisiana citizens haven't elected a Republican senator since before Reformation...yep, 1880-something (hey, dates were never the fun facts for me) was the last time a republican represented this state. In fact, Mary Landrieu (the democrat who was reelected) is the first woman to represent Louisiana and she was elected 6 yrs ago for her 1st term. Let's see, that means that it wasn't until the mid 90s that a woman had a seat of high power in this state. What am I doing here? The sad thing is that the loser had a better speech than the winner but going back to the voting issues of my elementary school days, Landrieu is better looking and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the voters used that as a deciding factor. This year is the first year I haven't voted since I turned 18. And even when I did vote, it's not like I had good reasons for choosing people. I think the first election I got to vote in was the 96 presidential election year and since I grew up in a pro-democrat environment, I just voted for democrats. As for the other issues, I think I just asked my parents what I should vote for. I mean, I had no clue so my vote might as well have gone for something someone I knew did want. In fact, even when I was voting absentee for Hawaii, I just called my mom to tell me what was good and this time it was easier because I had the ballot right in front of me and I didn't have to remember anything. When I switched to voting in Oregon (I don't know why I did that...maybe to persuade the folks up at OHSU that I loved Oregon so I could get into their damn school), I attempted to understand issues but in the end, I think I just voted for democrats and ignored the ballot issues that involved too much interpretation or maybe I just used the voter's pamphlet to see what the democrats supported. I really don't remember. So why didn't I vote in Louisiana this year? Because this place is so corrupt that I really didn't want to waste time interpreting anything. And while I believe it is irresponsible to ignore a civic duty/right to vote, I feel like voting uninformed (or voting the way I have in the past) is far worse. So when will I ever take the time to register to vote and actually vote? Well, if the issue to make it a federal law to limit resident work hours gets on the ballot, then I'll register or anything medically related that I can understand. There are all these legal loopholes in everything and I'm too tired to figure those out and learn the pathology of hepatitis. So maybe if someone writes "the lazy idiot's guide to 200_ election candidates and issues" then I'll register but until then, I'll just live in my happy world I've created inside my home and head. Oh, if David Duke, former (or maybe the present?) Grand Dragon of the KKK comes back to run for office in Louisiana, then I'll register since he would represent the parish (aka county because separation of state and church means nothing to these people) I live in. But hey, good thing I look white enough to confuse the biggoted racist bastards who still exist in this world. Well, the liver, that great detoxification center in our Right Upper Quadrant, calls.
~me~ at 11:16 PM

Friday, December 06, 2002

I'd like to take this time to personally thank those people out there who have helped me to become addicted to various foods and hobbies and other things. First would be Corinne Stauff and Janice Hirayasu who got me into knitting. As much as I enjoy knitting, it seems to have too much of a pull on me when the world of pathology awaits. To my Aunty Laura, I attribute my love for the meticulous and perfectionist requiring counted cross stitch because I saw her doing it and decided to try it myself. By the way, I think she's still working on the same project for about 5 years now. I don't know who first introduced me to Ume but whoever it was, thank you and yet I hate you too because you don't have the power to make the stores in New Orleans sell it at a decent price in large enough containers for my level of consumption. And mom, why did you have to teach me how to read or at least foster a love for it. Actually, why didn't you foster a love for reading pathology texts...I could really use that addiction right about now. My love for Republic of Tea brand teas (most specifically the apple blossom green tea) is attributed it to the guy who works at the Tulane Hospital coffee/tea/random snacks stand. And now, for the final addiction that I have admitted to...oregon chai tea. I resisted for so many years but when I saw it at the new Costplus marketplace store, I thought, wow, if they sell something from Oregon in New Orleans, then it must be good. So on my trip to Portland, my dear cousin Chris got me addicted to Oregon Chai tea. Unfortunately, they only carry the espresso and green tea varieties here and being a person of constancy, I bought what seemed to be the closest to the original concentrate variety (they sell the dry type but I don't want that) and bought the ice tea type and wow! It's yummy too! And I made it into a smoothie and while it tasted slightly different from the one I had in portland, it was still yummy and mellow. I think if I use more concentrate the flavor will be stronger. I had this container of liquid non dairy creamer that I was going to try out with the tea but discovered the hard way that even nondairy creamer can go bad. I don't know how since it was closed and refrigerated but it went bad. Sure, I smelled it but it didn't smell odd so I went to test #2: the taste test. GROSS! It was bad! Good thing I tasted it before just adding it to my tea mix! Silly me only bought one container so now I have to ration my chai tea intake until I go back (the store is rather inconveniently located). I have to call them everyday to harass them cause the girl said they ordered more and just got a whole bunch of stuff that they haven't unloaded yet. I figure if I call everyday, they'll get their butts in gear and unload my chai tea. I want the original one and maybe I'll pick up more of the ice tea type. It really doesn't matter since they both cost the same. After reading the ingredients, I realized why I love the flavor. Orange spice! Yummmy! Hey Chris, is the java one with espresso tainted by the flavor of the coffee? Maybe next year when I really need high doses of caffeine I'll switch over to that type. I've been only using caffeine in small doses (tea is very low in caffeine compared to coffee but I guess if I keep drinking this chai stuff and other teas in large quantities, I'll be wired as if I were drinking coffee). If you feel you were unjustly left off the list of getting me addicited to things, please let me know and I'll dedicate an entire entry to that addiction. Oh and I can't forget the fact that I got myself addicted to 3 ply kleenex ultra tissues. Don't let your nose suffer any more! It's worth the extra dimes and nickels...trust me, afterall, I'm almost a 3rd year medical student.
~me~ at 5:57 PM

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

Well, I finished making my first knit blanket last night. It took me about 5 months but since I started it in the summer before I left for Oregon and then have had stupid things getting in the way, like medical school, I don't think 5 months is that long. So today I went to Michael's to get this fun yarn to make another blanket. I hope it turns out as great as my first blanket. By the way, I've noticed that so far only Chris and I have signed my guestmap. I think I need to remind people to check out my blog. wow, 5:36 I better get some more work done!
~me~ at 5:37 PM

Monday, December 02, 2002

How is it possible that only one side of my nose is congested? I guess I should know the answer to that one and be thankful that only one side is slightly messed up instead of both sides but it's annoying cause now I need to carry kleenex around with me and you know that I only use Kleenex 3 ply cold care extra soft tissues on my schnoz. It's very sensitive and besides if you ever used that stuff once, you could never go back to regular 2 ply tissue of any brand! And Sam's club here doesn't carry it at all like Costco does in Eugene (the 8 pack) so I need to go to a regular store and buy the boxes individually. Oh and I bought my applecare extended warranty service for my computer today cause I like to be extra cautious. Oh and my last computer had screen problems intermittently that really got annoying and if I had bought applecare for that computer the repair would have been covered. the sucky thing about applecare for powerbooks (besides being way overpriced) is that I would have to ship my computer to Dallas to be fixed instead of being fixed at the apple store 10 minutes away because apple likes to torture customers that way. For christmas (hint hint) I don't really want anything special except maybe a keyboard but it looks like the keyboard I've been salivating over for the past 3 months is no longer available so that's off my wish list. So why did I bother mentioning it? I don't know but I like to write in the stream of consciousness and that just popped out of my head.
Tomorrow is the day of Thyroid pathology and you know I'm excited. Oh and I discovered that apparently there's such a thing as antithyroid drugs for folks with hyperthyroidism. Yeah, see I had only heard that they usually irradiate over active thyroid glands or cut them out but Dr. Beckman tells me that these drugs are the medical way to treat the problem instead of the traditional surgeon's solution to everything (ie cut it out). I better eat some dinner. I decided to have a low key meal of rice with my yummy perservative filled toppings (yea nitrates, nitrites, and other carcinogens!). I was going to make the sausage I bought from sam's (green chile - yummm!) but my nose is making the rest ofmy body feel icky...or it could be the common cold in general doing it. I shined (shone?) a light in my mouth to visualize my sinus cavities but they looked fine so I'm hoping it stays that way. Now it's a matter of convincing myself that I'm perfectly fine....and hungry
~me~ at 7:39 PM

Sunday, December 01, 2002

Well, Thanksgiving was fun as always. I took my ophthalmoscope and stethoscope with me and my cousins and I looked into each others eyes and listened to hearts. We tried to find Erinn's baby's heartbeat but couldn't. Mick probably had the most fun with the stuff though we all had a laugh in the beginning as he fumbled around trying to figure out how the ophthalmoscope worked on his own. And then periodically through the night he was walking around with the stethoscope draped around his neck. OH, I just remembered about my prizes I won at BINGO. I wasn't as lucky this year since I only won twice (a kitkat with $1 and then Mentos with $1) but since most of the stuff was candy, it's probably good that I didn't win more. Then on Friday Chris and I hung out for awhile. We went to Powell's bookstore and I got this book that I was going to give as a gift but I like it so much that I may just find something else. It's called "How to be Happy, Dammit - a cynic's guide to happiness" And it is so funny! I love how self-help books makes things sound like if all you did was change a few things in your life then everything would be better as if it were that simple! Well, this book says similar things but makes a point in saying that it will be hard, very hard but may be worth it and it isn't sappy. In fact, according to the publisher, it's official genre is self-help humor. Well, I need to finish getting ready since I'm picking up Christina at the airport in a bit.

~me~ at 10:34 AM