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11 April Mr. Birddog Mystery SOLVED!Ummm....this blog post is going to be absolutely meaningless to everybody, except to our pals back home that have partied with us from way back...
I was studying tonight, listening to some random stuff on my iTunes, and I came across a song (I have a boatload of music) that brought back some memories....and a mystery! Since I particularly enjoy procrastinating; and looking up useless stuff instead of memorizing more silly drug trade names, along with the adverse drug reactions (which by the way have NO physiological correlation 70% of the time), I began my quest.
Remember Daft Punk? House music stuff:
"One more time....celebrate and dance with me...one more time".
They had an album called Discovery: Bradley and I played it ...A LOT! Especially during the summer of '01 up at the cottage.
They had a song on that album called face to face, a real incessant loopy track, that had this person....you couldn't even tell what gender: singing a little phrase that no one could figure out what they were saying.
After numerous surveys of different cottage-party attending people that summer, 95% of our isolated survey thought the person was saying, "Mr. Bird-dog".
Well, I still to this day can't figure out what they are saying but have stumbled on the sample in the song, purportedly the ONLY sample in this track:
It's friggin....ELO: Evil Woman!?!?!? I cannot hear that song in there for the life of me, but that's what they say in the post below.
If you have heard of Daft Punk...or you're one of our buddies from way back, click on the link: you'll be amazed at the samples out of that disc.
I've got ELO on my external along with all the Billboards from the 70's. I'll throw it on the laptop over the break and let you know, but that is the origin of Mr. Birddog....supposedly.
Another stupid fact-finding quest (semi-)solved. I can sleep easy at night once-again.
Speaking of music. I've been toying with adding the Windows Media Player on my site to add on some tunez, perhaps even add in Mr. Bird-dog so one and all can enjoy. BUT, and here is the big BUT: I probably would tend to stick with some of the not so top 40 stuff and a bit more unique music that I like. There are more than 40 songs at once that people can enjoy listening to in any given week...RIGHT? Let me know if you're game or you prefer silence (Question is directed to all...but really to Laura, Lexi, the occasional Jess and very infrequent sister commenters).
Sorry Lexi...no country either.
 C
09 April Yummy veins and yummy cakeI'm going to apologize right now for my future lack of attendance. I have finals Wednesday, next Monday and next Wednesday.
Therefore I will be absentee for the next wee bit. (I just cannot get enough of using the word 'wee' in my writings). Such a fun word!
Today we did some setup of IV lines and venipuncture (drawing blood). I am an absolute pansy...I love doing it on other people, but cannot watch the needle enter my vein. I have this fascinating ability to lose all pigmentation and turn as white as.....as........Michael Jackson in a matter of seconds. The good news is: if I don't look, no problems whatsoever.
I feel for some of my classmates, some of them look like they were attacked in the forearm with an icepick, rather than a 22 guage needle.
My oldest Noah turned 4 last Saturday! Craziness!! Hard to believe how quickly they grow up. I can only hope that I can get a lot of rotations nearby so I don't miss out too much of their lives over the next couple years.
Our friends came over, they gave Noah a way2cool remote control car. He prefers the car off though, it sort of scares him when it moves. We sung Happy B-day and had some cake. NEWSFLASH: Noah & Jaxon both love cake. They can both now say the word "yummy" after eating lots of cake.
Oh sweet, sweet sugar...it turned both of my 2 boys into wild men. It took us hours to get them off of the ceiling, but we finally got them to bed that night....albeit late!
My passport is buried in Ottawa, nowhere to be found. But we have a really nice beach here on Saba, (biggest it has perhaps ever been) so all is not lost. We'll take the kids there a couple times over break.
I have some new photos, but my bandwidth sucks so bad, it will take only, oh....2.2 days to upload the photos, I will do so after April 18th...promise!
Sounds like the weather back home is not so spring like? Snow! Have I said that I don't miss winter at all? Sunny and hot today: 31-32 degrees...I'll take Saba weather (for now anyways).
Also, I have signed up on facebook, tracked down some friends, some I haven't seen in years. I just wish the setup at facebook wasn't so restrictive. I also REALLY wish that you didn't have to be a windowslive owner to post comments here either. Now that I think of it....I wish I won the lottery or found a big bag of money. But, alas I don't play the lottery, and have yet to find my big bag of $$$.
After that last paragraph, don't be surprised if I get my space shut down for touting something that Microsoft doesn't own.....
C
04 April Dr. Chris - public speakerLaura's comment echoes probably what everyone else is thinking...where is this guy?
After my heated soapbox-retort on evolution criticism, I was mentally exhausted and spent.
Well, actually I just had block exams, as well as had to prepare for a presentation to the school on chiropractic. I've been sort of preoccupied with these things and neglected my blogging duties. My apologies.
Like most people, I loathe public speaking. Actually, forget loathe: I downright despise it. Kim seems to be a natural at it though. She has given a talk to the behavioural science class on autism. I still have students mention to me that she is a fantastic educator
I on the other hand, can pull it off so people don't think I am nervous. But truthfully I am never semi-comfortable up in front with hundreds of eyes peering at me.
I'm not alone however...Believe it or not, it is the most common fear listed by humans. People fear public speaking more than snakes, spiders, fire, heights, drowning, etc. Pretty wierd when you think of it, huh? The one thing we are afraid of the most....is really the least harmful of all those phobias I mentioned. We humans sure do have a wonderful and wierd psyche.
Thanks to both Lexi and Laura for your comments on my last post BTW.
My talk was received very well. Students and faculty asked some great questions (proof that they were listening!) and I am happy with how it went, and even happier that it is over with.
Other than that....block exams went well, escaped with all A's considering my motivation has dipped mighty low as of late.
14 more days....followed by one more semester and then hopefully lots of rotations in Ontario.
Hey Laura: you have any family connections to any physicians in Ontario that would be willing to take me on for a rotation? You must know someone.....you're Italian!! I'm not, unfortunately, but would be more than willing to pretend to get a rotation or two!! Gold chains and hairy chest, right? DONE! (I'm kidding..........about the gold chains and hairy chest)
C 31 March The dumbing of America...When I created this space, it was for the purpose of to be able to mass share pics of the kids, provide people with an insight into our unique life and situation and some rather lame attempt at humour through the blog.
My goal is not to talk about politics or religion, cause really there is no right answer with either of these topics. So please don't get confused on this, my retort is NOT slandering one's faith, belief, religion OR cult for that matter.
I came across this post from Slashdot.com. What a bewildering statistic! Here is the post:
First of all, 10,000 years old? Ummm....could someone explain to me where the dinosaurs fit in on the grand scheme of things? Carbon-dating is oft-criticized by religious zealots for dating inaccuracies all the time.....unless it proves that an ancient stone is from the correct era, when correlated with the timeframe noted in the bible.
48%? We need to start doing a better job integrating science with education!
Please don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with faith. I believe that faith is a very personal, but also very rewarding and significant part of one's life. No person should be ashamed, or feel guilty about their beliefs on faith regardless of where those beliefs lie. Why? Because until those answers are uncovered, nobody can say that their belief system is more correct than others.
But as for me I am a student of science. There are countless articles and millions of everyday teachings, both scientific and empirical, in both healthcare and life in general that point towards evolution as the accepted hypothesis.
A hypothesis does not mean truth, it simply means that due to reasoning and rationale, this is a suggested explanation that has gained acceptance. It has not been invalidated and there is no way (as of now) to disprove it.
The key point: acceptance does NOT equal truth.
While modern science cannot explain life's origins, there is overwhelming compelling evidence that evolution is a basic principle of life. Only the strong survive. Take bacteria, which have a life cycle far, far quicker than humans or other members of the animal kingdom.
For example, when penicillin (one of the pillars of modern medicine) was discovered, we noted a sharp rise in life expectancy and a reduction in bacterial infections. Then we began to notice that those early antibiotics proved no longer useful to treat the same bacteria.
One nowadays does not have to read too many headlines before seeing a bacteria that is highly resistant to many of our antibiotics that we have. These resistant bacteria are causing havoc in hospitals, and cause a growing (albeit slowly), chance of death. Why does this happen? Because a very small and isolated bacteria in the overall population of that bacteria existed. This isolated bacteria had a unique genetic makeup that allowed it to avoid death from the antibiotics. After a period of time, the bacteria with that unique genetic makeup become the majority of the population. Furthermore, we have proven that DNA when passed on to any progeny, undergoes mutation: we never get a "carbon-copy" of the parent DNA. This mutation ultimately leads to uniqueness. It is why you and I look slightly different. When this uniqueness allows it to survive over others this is called natural selection. This natural selection is what evolution is all about.
Does this mean that I don't believe in God? NO! It means that I believe in evolution. Certain conservative-christian groups, as well as certain extreme left-wing atheists like to strengthen their arguments by lumping everything together and trying to make a clear line: that everything is either black or white....That to believe in God, you must discount science, especially evolution. Just because the bible didn't mention it, doesn't mean that it cannot be true. After all, kangaroos and grizzly bears exist...and they're not in the bible.
Last time I checked, this small planet called Earth we live in displays far, far more colours than simply B&W.
C
27 March Passportless and forlornLooks like I'm stuck on Saba for a while.
After we got back from Canada in February (for Allan's funeral), I sent my passport and ID and photos to get my passport renewed.
Unfortunately, I'm one of 20,000 Canadians (per day!), that are looking for a passport. According to my father, they were processing applications yesterday that were received on January 16th. Sadly in my case, February falls after January....
So, now we are screwed. I made some vacation plans during the upcoming break too hastily (naively thinking I would have a passport in time) and booked flights....which now will cost me dearly to cancel. I checked my cancellation insurance: it oh so conveniently doesn't cover anything when you have passport issues. What bewilders me is:
In the defense of insurance companies: I would get $750 dollars (US dollars: SCORE!) for loss of an eye, during any in-flight accident. I'll keep the eye, thank you so much for the offer though! I will probably get my new passport in June. Maybe even June of this year!
I'll reserve from spewing off some profanity over this. But this really, really blows goats. One thing about Saba.....we have a lot of goats.
Now we'll see if my family still wants to come to Saba or St. Maarten (I can travel there or any other Netherlands-Antilles countries without a passport).
At least I'm marooned in the Caribbean, without a passport, but with my #1 pal: Kim, and my super-destructive, poor-sleeping, but lots of fun boyz.
C 23 March My kids, spiderman, and a fractured laptopSo my 2 boys are growing to be quite the pals....
They chase each other, they have little races with their trikes around on the deck and in the house.
And they love to have pillowfights.
Well, actually Noah loves to whip pillows, and generally Jaxon finds it amusing to always be on the receiving end of it.
Jaxon also is slowly turning into his (potential) future favourite action hero: spiderman. He climbs the railings of our deck with increasing frequency.
Pretty scary really. Considering we live on a cliff, Jaxon displays no fear (or common sense for that matter) and finds it really funny to have mom or dad come running after him.
Lastly, in their rambunctious ways one of them may have mistaken Kim's laptop for a pillow during a pillow fight (it happens, especially if you are under age 4) and tossed it: onto our very hard, unforgiving, and overall unkind to breakable things and fragile electronics tiled floor.
To put it simply: Kim's laptop no longer workie. Granted it was a dinosoar, a vintage Toshibasoarus....but it worked and I think the motherboard has suffered a fatal transverse fracture that no dinosoar surgeon (or chiropractor) can repair.
The good thing is: we still love our kids, bud sadly: we will miss our web-surfing dino.
C 18 March Back to the grindA couple members of our family (& our pals) Erin & Derrick left yesterday, after spending a week with us here.
We're pretty sure they had a good time. Kim "the tour director" had a busy agenda set for them. Hiking every day (think stair-stepper from hell, with nice scenery and you have the Mount Scenery trail). Lots of other trails, as well as a day of diving. After I finished my exams on Tuesday, Derrick and I went snorkelling. Had some really strange weather, almost like a tropical depression that just would not go away, with constant clouds and occasional to steady rain from Wednesday through Friday morning.
Thanks to some classmates (and their respective others) we arranged some extended babysitting, which allowed all four of us to go over to St. Maarten for a couple days.
St. Maarten is the exact opposite of Saba: somewhat flatter, lots of scrub and bush vegetation, and almost the entire island is surrounded by pristine beaches. It also has enough amenities and commercial-ism to make you feel nauseous and your wallet in your back pocket feel tremendously lighter.
Truthfully, Saba is much more undeveloped, and far more tropical than St. Maarten. I'm glad to have both nearby, and I'm happy to live on the quieter island....Though it is nice to indulge in the other stuff once in a while.
We found a fantastic beach that Kim and I have never been to before on St. Maarten up on the french side. Relatively quiet, we weren't getting harrassed to buy something every 5 minutes and there is a cool little place to eat right on the beach. Some tasty tropical iced drinks (daiquri, mudslides, marguritas) readily on hand.
We were in bed before 2:00 AM each night.......I guess we are getting a little older.
Other than that, the new camera is pretty awesome. We took some pics, and in the next little while I'll put up a new album for all to enjoy.
Good to hear that everyone else had a nice March break.
TTYL,
C
08 March Paralyzed Uncle Joe!Did I tell you guys that I'm off the island in August?
Since that time is coming up here is my timeframe:
from now till August...keep on keeping on with the same stuff I complain about daily on this blog: classroom, bookwork, exams, studying, etc
August 2007: sit for my step 1 USMLE (Medical Licensing exam)
September 2007ish: Hopefully start my hospital rotations (thank god, clinical stuff once again)
January 2009: finish my rotations (hopefully)
February 2009: compete with other med students for residency spots: decided by a combination of arm wrestling, stare-down competitions, sheer prowess and intimidation, oh...and I almost forgot...just about anything you've been tested on in your academic career that is graded on some sort of mathematical scale.
June 2009: start residency: and once again, start making some $$$$$.
Funny......I was actually in a good mood prior to writing this thing. Now that I see June 2009, I'm thinking, WTF am I doing? I had a very good life prior to this. Making a good living, nice house, Kim was happy.....and I was miserable. Maybe it was the fact that I owned a minivan, but I think it was due to my feeling of being unfulfilled with my career.
I consider myself a very good chiropractor, but the philosophy of chiropractic never meshed with me.
Don't get me wrong, it works very well, and I can honestly say there is some solid peer-reviewed literature that backs up chiropractic manipulation. I was just very, very bored with what I was doing: saying the same thing, doing the same thing, and always having to justify my career choice to strangers in a grocery store, who instantly told you how their Uncle Joe was paralyzed from a chiropractor, blah, blah, blah. I have always wanted medicine, I settled for chiropractic as a career and realized after a few years of practice I could go on with it perfectly fine, OR I could do what I have always wanted, and what I (not necessarily others) perceive as a truly noble way to help people, while pulling in six-digit-figures without acting like a used-car-salesman (no offence to all you blog-reading used-car salesman out there).
The truth: It's just like everything else in the real world: There are doctors of all sorts out there: There are good doctors, and bad doctors; good people and bad people; paralyzed people and "paralyzed people" who walk perfectly fine, have full mobility and 100% intact muscular integrity...What I'm really trying to say: opinions are a great thing, provided they are informed opinions. People who rely on heresay and third party gossip to form their world outlook, well.....Let's just say they make the world a colourful place.
Speaking of making the world a colourful place, Jaxon my youngest is right into the mimicry mode now: I got him to say, "poop" and "change diaper", all in the same sentence! Now if only I could get Noah to talk, we'd be set.......that remains to be seen.
As for Uncle Joe: After a bit more prodding it became obvious, he simply had post-tx soreness, a self-limiting muscle strain. Just like all pills have side effects, all physical therapy inevitably challenges some sort of muscle and/or joint. When you're injured, it takes time to get things back to 100%.
I tried to explain this fact to the niece, but she sadly, had a pre-formed and unchangable opinion. I have learned something in chiropractic practice: You definitely cannot win them all!
If I could fix everyone in one visit, regardless of whether I'm a chiropractor, physician OR both; I would also qualify to wear the nametag, "Hello, my name is God".
C 07 March What time is it?It's a Wednesday, and guess what time is it pour moi?
Yeah, exam time! That's all it ever is, but here we are again. I may be a bit incognito for the next couple, as I have to get my butt in gear for the upcoming block exams.
Before I go, something funny that was said to us recently by my pharm prof, Dr. Beedimani
A Neurotic is someone who builds a castle in the sky. A Psychotic is the person who lives in it. The Psychiatrist is the one who collects the rent. 04 March 2 is better than 1Erin and Derrick (not only Kim's younger sis and hubbie, but really close friends to us) are coming down next week Saturday. That's right Erin: even though I tease the crap out of you, I deep down, sort of, kind of enjoy your company.
Though I'd still pick hangin' out with Derrick first, hahaha. Just gotta get in that last pre-travel dig, ya know?
Since I have exams on the following Tuesday, I won't see much of either of them until Tuesday evening. I am trying to get a leg up on the studying in anticipation of them coming down, but I am LAY-ZEE!
Author's note: LAY-ZEE, from the english word, "lazy" really means that I have spent only 20 hours studying since Friday at 2:00 pm.
Yes, I know...that is very sad....and yes, I am an absolute geek.
Remember when I said that our camera died recently? We found a great deal on Best Buy, and went for it. Our old camera was acting really screwy.....I recharged our rechargables, stuck them back in and voila: works perfectly!! So, it seems we have two cameras.
Oh, well. The old digicam has had some issues that were becoming more constant, rather than intermittent. Two is better than one. The old Canon may go on the fritz again tomorrow, who knows? And, who exactly is Fritz???
So E&D are bringing down our new camera (I love gadgets, warning: Nerd Alert), along with my next fave thing to gadgets: LUGGAGE!!
Actually, luggage is not my favourite thing, but we need some lightweight stuff to drag all our stuff home this August. We had a new set in 2000, but if you haven't air-travelled recently, the weight limits on checked baggage have dropped dramatically. Our largest suitcase, when empty weighed in at 18 pounds. This behemoth now allows me to put 2 socks in it, a pair of jeans, 2 T-shirts and a pair of cargo shorts.........and I'm basically at the weight limit. If you are sooo friggin' bored you have nothing else to surf at: check out the cool, ultra light, reasonably priced and oh-so-hip luggage: www.heys.ca
So we are now the proud owners of a new 3 piece set that weighs in at a combined 15 lbs. <----------ME SO EXCITED!!!!!
Actually, I'm not really that excited about the luggage. But it is some new stuff, and new stuff always makes me happy!!
Since we are now in the starving student mode, and besides groceries, bills, gas for the car and tuition we REALLY don't buy anything. Mainly cause we cannot afford it, with neither Kim nor myself working since November 2005. I have had the luxury (no pun intended) of being really poor, twice!! So don't worry, I will always be a humble physician.
C
02 March SchizophreniaWriting is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow
I've covered schizophrenia in both behavioral sciences, genetics, neurology, pathology and most recently...pharmacology. Schizophrenia is greek for splitting of the mind. It affects 1% of the North American population. Typical symptoms include a dull unresponsive or muted state, delusions and hallucinations (often auditory) and disorganized thinking.
Most people think of schizophrenics as axe murderers, or mass murderers who wear an old-school hockey goalie mask. A common misconception is that schizophrenics are not any more dangerous or violent than anyone else in the regular population.
The disorder effects ones ability to think, as well as inappropriate emotions and behaviors. The classical onset is when someone reaches college/university age. They start school, and then start to unravel, or abruptly change. An interesting aside: almost ALL schizophrenics love to smoke cigarettes. Even if they were a non-smoker prior to onset of this disease, they rapidly gravitate towards picking up the habit. There are many theories on this, but none proven.
Sadly enough, suicide is very common with schizophrenics, upwards of 40-50%. Often the voices that they hear are very negative and degrading, making depression highly associative with schizophrenia.
Attached is a picture from a 19th century artist, by the name of Louis Wain. His story is quite interesting, as he was a well known artist that had quite a fancy for drawing cats. Even though we are not sure if these pictures were drawn chronologically, they provide insight into the "unravelling of the mind" that occurs with schizophrenia. I've uploaded a couple other photos from schizophrenics as well. They are incredibly perverse, but fascinating nonetheless.
That's the end of the lesson for today, class...
C 28 February Some acknowledgements and another rodent storyJust to be thorough here in giving thanks: I truly appreciate all comments made on my blog. It is relatively new, Laura has been posting comments from day 1. Thanks and You rock!
Alexis has made numerous posts, and I appreciate your attempts for lining up rotations/residency in Englehart. Beggars can't be choosers, but truthfully: If I have a choice, I'd like a bit more metro for the experiences and proximity to other areas. Thanks though, and who knows, I may be there yet!
Even my sister made it here once. So thank you one and all. As for all the anonymous readers out there? Thanks for taking the time to read, and try to get some insight into my complex neural network!
I'm going to copy in a cute story I got from a MD blog: http://drtony.blogspot.com/
Mouse Story ...
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose." So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap-- alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
Stay tuned: my next post will talk about a fascinating, yet very saddening disorder: schizophrenia
C 27 February What's new? Not much...Same ole stuff today. In class all day, I'm tired....had a good workout in the gym, now home and head back to the library shortly.
The kids had a decent night sleeping for once, too bad I can't say the same for myself. I slept like crap, waking up multiple times almost in anticipation of Noah coming to our bed in the middle of the night.
Thanks to one of my fellow students and his constant bitching about a few questions, the prof threw 5 questions out from the pathology exam. Fortunately for the constant complainer, his grade went up by 2%, unfortunately for the vast majority of our class, our scores went down by either 2-5%. Our 87% class average, dropped to an 84%. Even though the prof claims differently, I swear that the number of failures in the class went up to 7 from 4 people. Doesn't make much sense to me. Losing the marks is not that big a deal, but it really sucks that the change was made due to one cutthroat in our class who has to compare his marks to everyone elses, rather than concentrate on his own achievement.
Some people have really small minds, and simple outlooks on what REALLY is important, huh?
 To cheer up this post, (I have been bitter all day with the 4 point deduction on my score) here is a short list of stuff that always makes me happy:
Nuff said, C 25 February 1/2 Rock LobsterSo Kim and I went out for our Saturday AM trip to the beach. We had a babysitter for the morning (thanks Nug). We packed up the towels, bottled water, sunscreen and hopped in the car for the 15 minute car ride (hard to believe it takes 15 minutes to drive 1/2 way across a 5 square kilometre island). The roads are so up and down, crazy curves and super narrow. We'll try to get a video of a 'typical drive on Saba' sometime in the future (read on below).
When we arrived at Well's Bay (see our pics for a view of what the beach looks like). What did we find? No beach, at all. Nothing but rocks.
So what gives? Saba is a really mountainous island, with some pretty deep water just off shore.
 With the shifting of the tides, the ocean simply deposits ALL the sand 50 feet offshore, rather than against the shoreline. There have been times, I have been told where the beach was gone for 16 months straight. We have been lucky thus far, with the beach gone this time last year for a couple months and then has been present ever since. People don't come to Saba for the beach life, that is a certainty.
Hopefully it comes back within a few weeks, since we have visitors coming down.
Since the beach was non-existent, Kim and I went for a hike. The hike was on the south side of the island, called Gillett's quarter (see the pic with Noah in our Saba photos). It is really rocky, grassland savannah type of terrain, and you need the sunscreen for sure. In our haste to get going, I got Kim to apply the sunscreen on my back, while I did my face and ears. Too bad I forgot to get the front part of me and my arms. My chest now resembles the title from the blog post!
 Other than that, no new photos in awhile, as our digital camera has died a sudden and tragic death after 3 and a 1/2 years of loyal service. We will send it back home to see if it is fixable, but will be looking to buy a new one soon, as the kids only stay little for so long!! Good thing St. Maarten is the place to go to get good electronic deals.
C 23 February Me & my twinI really don't have anything new and exciting to report. Just another great day in the Caribbean.
Here is a picture of me and Robb, my 1st semester twin taken at Lollipop's one of the local watering holes at the beginning of the semester.
As you can see, I got the better looks of the both of us.
I'll post more later this weekend,
C 21 February What's going on?First my mother-in-law, next my sister? Who REALLY are you people, and what have you done with my real family?
Seriously, a great thing to see. Laura, meet my family. Family: meet Laura. Now that the introductions are out of the way on to the latest.
Remember way back I was talking about the adventures in getting groceries, cause the boat comes in on Wednesday?
Well, now that it is "high" season (lots of tourists), the grocery store has believe it or not, good stuff. We were able to get all the good stuff, cause Kim & the boys went down today BEFORE all the med students finished classes. Lots of good stuff, sorry to report though Laura: no cupcakes or twinkies, though we did get some Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream.
The ice cream tastes really yummy, but I swear it will go straight to my thighs.
 Speaking of thighs.........after another extended hiatus from the gym, we are back on schedule. Starting out with some legs: lots of squats of course.
I don't think I will be walking entirely correctly for the next few days.
My Mr. Fix it duties continued this afternoon. An attempt to correct our 6 month old air conditioner from the speed wobble it has developed. Lets just say once again, repairing things is NOT my forte.
The beach on Saba is back once again. We have a babysitter for the morning, so Kim and I will likely go out for a swim and a snorkel. We have to do these things now, cause in a week or so, I will have no life....once again.
C
20 February Exams, exams and garbage cleaningHello all!
First off shouts out to Alexis, my fave (and only) mother-in-law for mustering the courage to post comments. Well done, and feel free to post often (just follow Laura's lead here).
And of course props to Laura for keeping up with the comments (your fingers must be killing you between my blog, yours and your numerous other web pals). The comments are great, makes me feel less likely that I am talking (read: typing) to myself.
Hey Laura, glad I could help with the advice, sorry the outcome wasn't different. Somethings we just cannot control, unfortunately.
BTW what is the deal with the italian guy posting comments on your blog?
Something tells me he was posting some pretty severe, suggestive XXX stuff, based on the fact that some words just don't have an Italian translation for them.
Anyways, I have been absentee for the last few days. Why, cause of exams, again, of course. Welcome to med school, where you finally lose touch of all social consciousness, live in the library, and the only reason you skip class.......is to head to the library to study some more.
Exams went well, in fact very well considering I missed 3 days of class, had limited time to study 3 weeks of material. My buddy, Fergalicious had some solid scores as well.
 Unfortunately cannot say the same for the rest of the class. Pharmacology is not a walk in the park. Actually it's like a 100 m dash that never ends, and you're running against Ben Johnson pumped full of the latest illicit performance enhancing pharmaceuticals.
We have lost a few of my classmates already this semester. They have chose to drop this course, take it again next semester, but effectively slipping down a class. More are claiming they are going to drop after seeing their results today. We started out with 77 people, now down to 63 but have picked up 10 or so who have come from above semesters. My other buddy in the class was thinking of dropping pharm, but pulled out a 90: congrats E!
All of our exams are in a computerized testing centre, you sit down, select the answers, review everything, hit PROCEED and instant gratification, or a trip down major depressive disorder lane depending on your results. That's right, we find out instantly our scores.
Finally some bigtime props to Kim: she has been the solo effort since I have been at the library constantly. To call me absentee is 100% correct.
I made it up to her by:
cleaning out the garbage cans. I know, I shouldn't be such a romantic...
Here on Saba, we have these big heavy duty garbage cans that 3 or 4 houses share. The sanitation workers come by randomly (really, they do & they often have a Heineken on the go while working. Today must have been a "feel like work day", and they came by to get our garbage.
Approximately 3-4 days ago, one of my neighbors caught some fish, cleaned it and managed to bag the whole after-mess in a cheap grocery bag and dispose of it semi-properly into the garbage can. The problem of course: very leaky.
 4 days of fish guts + big plastic enclosed incubator + 28 degree C weather = The foulest stench ever created on earth.
It was so bad, I think one of the garbagemen may have had a fatal accident, or at least shed some tears as there was a broken Heineken bottle on the road by our garbage cans. (Author's note: this is totally true, I could be far more creative with stories like this if I was lying.
So I came home, got out of the car and almost passed out from the stench. 20 minutes later I had the bucket and hose and clothespin on the nose.....FUN STUFF!
Every day is a new challenge, but always a fun one. I hope to upload some more photos in the next few days, stay tuned...
C
17 February Year of the Pig!Happy Chinese New Year: It's the year of the pig.
According to the AP:
"The Year of the Pig will not be very peaceful," said Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo.
Isn't that a cheery prognostication!
Turns out I'm a Rat, check me out HERE. The spooky thing...the description on that link fits me very eerily.
While looking it up, turns out Kim is a Tiger. Did you know that in real life tigers eat rats? C'est dommage pour moi.
Find out what you are: CLICK HERE
C
15 February My agendaOkay: here is the deal. I had another exam today, no problem its a lab practical. I have 3 exams next Tuesday. Pathology: 18 powerpoints, approx. 50 slides apiece jam packed with info.
Pharm, I have probably 7.5 million drug names to memorize, know the mechanism of action, adverse drug reaction and general uses.
PD: only 500 slides of info on heart murmurs, lung physical exam findings.
I am embracing my inner geek...Don't worry, I don't expect any sympathy from anybody. Actually I don't expect any sympathy from Laura, since its basically a 2 way conversation between her and I. Though I know that a lot of friends and family read this thing, it just so happens that all of you bought your computer via the installment method. The keyboard is the last thing to be delivered, right?
the real reason I am posting what I have in front of me is to excuse myself from any creative, more than 3 sentence posts for the next few days.
After all, I am the one that signed up for this torture.
C 12 February Happy MondayI wish I had something new, funny, entertaining and witty for all of you 3 readers out there for today.
But I don't.
Kim's sister and husband are attempting to make a trip down during March break. My folks and my sister and her gang are attempting to set something up for my break in mid-April. With my mom working in the travel industry: I'm really hoping for the free all-inclusive trip thang...come on MOM!
I pulled off an 88% in pharm, not where my usual standards like to be, but under the circumstances...it's a good grade.
Anyone from Ontario have a relative/close pal who is a physician in a hospital in Ontario that wants to take me on for my rotations this September? I won't disappoint, promise!
Back to my life....the library.
C
Actually here is something witty, that I umm...borrowed from Comedy Central site:
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