Monday, November 10, 2003, 06:49 p.m.

Love in an elevator (not really)

I don't know who else is peeved by this, but the elevators at work label the first floor 'G' and the second floor '1'. At first i didn't think about it but now it really pisses me off because people who don't have a clue keep hitting '1' instead and when you're trying to get the hell out of work to go home, every floor you stop on seems like an eternity. Of course most of the people who hit one don't get off when they realize the mistake. It's stupid i know.

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Sunday, November 2, 2003, 08:14 p.m.

Neo for a day

I just got back from DC. Matrix theme party was awesome, and i made a pretty good Neo even tho i screwed up my hair by dying it blonde instead of leaving it black. Everyone agreed the theme was a great idea, especially seeing all the ladies in pleather pants and body suits. I drank so much i lost count of the drinks, but good fortune was kind enough to keep me from hurling until the party was over. Only downside was any cool girl i met had to be either attached ot married. Oh well i was too far gone to care. Oh yeah and ken was surprised to see that i smoke at parties with fellow smokers. Yes i know what i do for a living.
Here are pics of the party.

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Friday, October 31, 2003, 10:43 p.m.

Bored, lonely, tired ...

I've found it harder to keep updating my blog these days. I just don't have the energy and the motivation. Sometimes i just forget too. I did realize something at work the other day and it sounds really selfish, lazy and self-centered.

I need a vacation from my life. Not just my job, but being an adult with all its responsibilities, burdens, and even freedoms. Life is good but for some reason i'm not feeling it and for some reason i keep thinking about the past and missing the days when i lived the geek's life without much to care about. Maybe i just need something or someone to help give me some focus. I don't know. At least i'll be going to DC tommorow to a Matrix-themed costume/club party. It'll be fun, i know it. Plus i could use a few drinks.

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Sunday, October 26, 2003, 12:56 a.m.

Happy daylights savings

This will be the first time in 4 years i've actually had to change my clocks. Indiana was one of those weird states that didn't bother with DLT. Arizona and Hawaii are the other two. I don't know why they didn't but it confused me for sure. Now i have to get used to doing it again. Glad tommorow is a sunday and not a work day.

I haven't updated in a while, so what exactly have i been up to? Well i turned 30, my parents came to town, my car has been making funny rear suspension noises, i've been rejected by more than one person who i used to be close to, i've been spending more time getting to know my friends in Philly, and i've been kicking myself for not hitting the gym in the last few weeks. Oh yes and my high school buddy Mike came into town to visit me and we hit Atlantic City today to get our blackjack on. I found out how rusty i was when i was playing the rules completely backwards for the first five mins at the tables. I'm glad i got my groove back quickly and ended up losing only $75. Not too bad. It really is true that AC is 'Vegas for ugly people'. So mean but true.

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Monday, October 6, 2003, 11:26 p.m.

My sweet home

I noticed something weird on the drive home tonight. Along the freeway there was a sign for my apt complex. It wasn't one of those advertising billboards that says 'Drexelbrook, RENT HERE!' but an actual freeway sign just like the 'next rest is XX miles ahead' 'next exit State Police' and such. Next to them was 'Drexelbrook Communities'. I wouldn't even think twice about it except that the president had a fundraiser function here a month ago, which wouldn't have mattered except management told us that we wouldn't even be able to park on our own spaces that day for security reasons. I don't like Bush and i'll be damned if i go out of my way for him. So i don't really know whats special about this place, except the rent is good and the neighbors seem nice.

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Thursday, October 2, 2003, 08:31 p.m.

Ok i do watch too much tv...

...if it takes watching the season premiere of Friends to make me realize that i really need to let certain things go in my life. More specifically, that certain people in my life aren't as close to me as they used to be, and that i need to move on. Moving on with things is a lot like cleaning your home, you know it needs to be done but you put it off as long as possible.

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Monday, September 29, 2003, 10:04 p.m.

I'll be turning 30 soon, whoop de doo!!

Anyone who has seen Adam Sandler's 'The Wedding Singer' imagine the scene where he goes 'WHOOP DE DOO!!!' and thats exactly how i'm saying it. No it doesn't really bother me that i'm turning the big 3-0 or that a lot of people ignorantly begin to consider that 'old'. Yes, i'm guilty of the same thing, but as i approach that abritarily measured lump of time that was determined by rotations of the earth around the sun, and a civilzation obessed with base10 number systems or some such odd shit, i realize that when i turn 30, i won't feel any different than when i was 29...or 28...or 25. Really i haven't changed that much. I've learned, laughed, lost, suffered and won much but i don't think any of that has to do with a certain age. Of course everyone ELSE will start expecting me to enter some new phase in my life. Trust me, i'm doing the same thing, living the same life. I suggest you get busy living yours and stop checking up on me.

I turn 30 in a week and a half on 10/10 which i think is still one of the coolest birthdates ever. 10/10/10 would have been nice, but that won't happen for at least another 7 years...or 1993 years ago. I was never one to go out of my way to celebrate my bday, with last year in Vegas being an exception. Altho i celebrated it with janelle, it still wasn't really about me since she was the one who wanted to go, but i didn't really care and had fun anyways. I guess for once i want to be some center of attention and don't really care that i have to draw it upon myself. Of course i started to plan a little get together on Fri the 10th which was starting to sound very cool. A group of friends, some food, drinks, and possibly more drinks later on. I conspired to invite most of my coworkers and hell, the staff in my department too including the chairman. I know most of those people wouldn't have shown up but i thought it would have been a cool and fun gesture. Of course this was when i expected my parents to visit the following day. I just got a call from my dad changing that and when i suggested he stick with his original plan instead of coming on Fri night he flatly said 'no'. There was really no negotiation and after dealing with them for nearly 30 years, i knew there was no point arguing further. It made me realize that they never really cared or made my personal life much of a priority. Granted i haven't seen my family in a while but the idea of compromise when it comes to what i want, well they never really compromise. I guess it helps me remember why i can't deal with them for long periods of time anymore. Ah well, happy b-day to me in a week.

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Friday, September 26, 2003, 03:00 p.m.

God bless the HUP

Last night i had one of the worst and busiest call nights ever at work. It's funny how residents regard a call night because that is when we're supposed to receive an essential part of our medical training but all we think of is 'too little sleep, too much work and a lot of torture'. It's a pretty universal fact that nobody is happy to be on call, which includes us, our staff, all the nursing staff. Aside from being up all night with surgical cases, the worst part was nobody was showing up on time in the morning to relieve us and let us go home. I don't know what was going on but it was as if the god's above we're doing their best to try to screw us big time last night. On the plus side i really got to bond with one of my fellow residents who is a really cool guy and unlike some of the others i work with, pretty straight up, cool and not pretentious. We both suffered together and had a great time bitching about the night.

It seems that the last couple days i've been talking with people about how the HUP (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania) has a certain atmosphere that breeds some contempt, cynicism and is awash with a lot of attitude and ego. It was something i haven't seen since i left the U of Michigan med school, also a place with a lot of arrogance floating around. Another thing that really bothers me is how much gossip and backtalk floats around. Sure we like to bitch about working with a certain attending doc or mentor but what i didn't like hearing was residents backstabbing fellow residents, knocking on them for their abilities, work ethic, general intelligence, etc. Yeah i don't necessarily like everyone i've met but i still like to be cool with them, and frankly i've got 3 years to work with most of them, its too early to start hating people already. Then again, maybe what we're seeing in the upper level residents is a hint of what we'll end up becoming. Right now i want to establish my bonds and relationships and hope they hold up over the years. After all i want to know who will watch my back and who i can't count on in the future.

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Sunday, September 14, 2003, 06:50 a.m.

Scratch one item off my list of things to do before i die...

Yesterday i drove to central PA to check out the annual east coast Subaru shootout meet and i got to see, touch and sit in the hallowed Impreza WRX Sti 22B. It's a lot of letters and numbers, i know. If you haven't noticed, its also listed in my profile as one of my dream cars that i'll probably never own. I say this with a lot of certainty since its RHD only, made only for the UK and Japan markets, and there were only 500 produced in the whole world. Luckily Subaru of America based in Cherry Hill, NJ which is only a 40 min drive from my home, attended the meet as well and brought their one 22B for everyone to drool at. I thought they would have brought the thing by flatbed, but as i was driving back home i realized the lucky bastard who works for SOA actually drove it there and back since i ran into it at a freeway rest stop on the way back to Philly. I had a fun time at the meet even tho it was pouring rain the entire day. Instead of cancelling the organized drag races, they let everyone have free runs in the rain. I don't think anyone has seen a bigger collection of AWD cars spinning out all 4 wheels at the starting line. Plus i got to see several of my old chicago subaru club friends including jorge, cody, trent, nick and the other nick. Good times for all. Oh and go figure the rain went away as soon as they closed up the even in the afternoon :p

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Thursday, September 11, 2003, 08:39 p.m.

Oh ... damn....

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the WTC/Pentagon tragedy. I can't believe so much time has gone by so quickly, but anyways, thats not what i want to talk about.

Something pretty funny happened at work today. Day got off to a great start since i didn't have to come until 11am to work in the endoscopy suite. The cases went by quickly and were a lot easier to setup than the main ORs and everyone treated us so well as if we were doing them a service, instead of just doing what we're supposed to. My last case of the day was an upper endoscopy for a lady who was having ulcer problems. What i didn't expect was a nearly gorgeous japanese woman who was about my age. Another surprise was that she works as another training MD at my hospital! The second part was almost a huge disspointment because i have a hangup when it comes to dating anyone at work, and dating other docs. I can say that she was so attractive that i was feeling shy as hell around her and avoided looking at her directly while i was taking care of business. I let my staff attending and the nurses do most of the talking while i took care of prepwork for the procedure. In fact i was too shy to even touch her, put on the EKG leads, BP cuff and anything else like that. I couldn't believe how i was acting like a stupid kid. After the procedure was over and she woke up, everyone was asking her how she felt, if she was ok, etc. My staff asked her where she did med school, and she said japan, telling us she has only been in the US for 6 years. Everyone was pretty impressed with her english since she was fluent, but i could tell she had a pretty strong accent. I got cute and said in japanese 'anata no eigo wa ojyoozu desu ne' which really surprised her and everyone else in the room. That must have gotten her attn because we started to chitchat as i was taking her back to the recovery area and i was telling her about my career change and move to Philly. She then asks me 'so what are you doing tonight?' and all i could say was 'uhhhhh, nothing i think'. No way could this person be asking me out, but then she smacked herself and said she was still confused from the drugs, saying that for a split second she thought she was still in San Diego since she just got back there from a business trip. Apparently she wanted to introduce me to a close friend of hers in SD who is a very well connecting anesthesiologist, since i told her i was interested in moving out to the west coast. We all laughed at that and esp when she was trying to apoligize saying 'i didn't want you to think i was asking you out'. Go figure an attractive woman would only ask me out when she's drugged up.

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