rajsmith

Nifty!

2009-11-26T08:44:09Z

How have I never heard of this site / guy before? He's the ex-lead-singer of Nerf Herder, for cryin' out loud!

http://parrygripp.com/

What can I say, I love novelty songs under 60 seconds long, often set to YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jKeGyUCJE&feature=player_embedded

And many of these make great ringtones -- there's one specially for all you iPhone lovers out there: iTunes link

Happy Turkey Day, my American friends!

Thanksgiving (food) thoughts

2009-10-11T18:00:05Z

It's Thanksgiving weekend up here in the Great White North, which leads me to think of... food.

I just read these 20 rules of thumb for food from the New York Times. I don't agree with all of them, but I see each one's value.

Oh, and if there's an ad for "2 rules to a flat stomach" or something else stupid-sounding, DON'T click on it. I finaly got tired of it and followed it through to the end, to see what the heck they were hawking.

It's just another useless diet book.

If you want something really useful to read, I'd suggest these:

In Defense of Food, by Micheal Pollan (Amazon link... too bad I don't have an affliate click thingy set up!)

Micheal Pollan has put the introductory paragraph up on his website (warning! PDF link!)

Another great book (that I re-read from time to time) is Mindless Eating - Why we eat more than we think, by Brian Wansink.

Now, you might think that I'm thinking of dieting, but I'm not. I'm thinking about eating. And how to do it better, more thoughtfully, with more enjoyment and less automation that tends to make me eat when I'm not hungry or keep eating long after I'm full. (I just drank 16 ounces of coffee simply because that's how much was in my travel mug.*)

If that happens to lead to fewer bites in, then great. If that makes me feel more energetic and less lethargic, then even better!
--

*This reminds me of when we were traveling in New Zealand in 2002. I was looking for a travel mug as a souvenir. I couldn't find one anywhere! I asked a very helpful cashier at a big shop, and explained to her what one was when she looked at me quizzically. "You know, a big mug with a lid, so that you can take your coffee with you when you're driving to work," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "Why would you ever want to do that?" And that's another reason why I wanted to move to NZ after that trip.

D*Con decon

2009-09-09T23:52:27Z

OK, we made it home, and we still haven't unpacked anything except our cameras.

Here's a link to some of our pics....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30175837@N04/sets/72157622323646434/

Now, to go unpack, do laundry, somd food shopping... other "real world" things.

(The "real world" sucks. Maybe we can watch some classic Trek during dinner!)

Cell phones at Dragon*Con

2009-08-27T18:17:25Z

Aarrrgh!!

Dragon-Con is almost upon us, and I'm getting ever more frustrated by the Canadian wireless companies.

Did you know that if we use our Canadian cells phones in the US, it costs about $1.45 per minute, and text messages cost 75 cents per text, sent and received!?!?!

We have the option of paying a one-time fee of $40 for the priviledge of having the voice cost reduced to a mere $0.57 per minute. The texting fee never goes down.

And don't even get me started on data fees.

Instead of paying those exorbitant prices, I've been looking into Pay As You Go phone plans in the USA. It seems more reasonable for voice, to be sure, but the texting details are often hard to find on the major players' websites.

At this point, I'm leaning towards:

- AT&T: $3/day only on days you use the phone, unlimited talk, no roaming, no US-long-distance, and $5 gets me 200 messages... or,

- T-Mobile: $1 per day of usage, 10 cents/minute and unlimted calling in the US from 7pm til 7am (and to other T-Mob phones). Texts are 10 cents out and 5 cents incoming.

Both of these options will also incur a one-time cost for buying a phone (or SIM card, since I've unlocked my iPhone) as well. It sounds like that will be anywhere from free to $100.

Any advice out there from other cell users?

Is there a huge preference for one company or other with respect to their PAYG services and support?

Canadians, any other ideas to save considerble dough?

Any and all help is appreciated.

OMG OMG OMG OMG !!!!1!!!!!!

2009-08-19T01:39:58Z

Guess!!!

Who's???!

Coming!

To.....

DragonCon!!!!!!

Yup. It's him.

Holy. Freaking. CRAP.

I'm totally stoked!!

Get with the Action!

2009-08-09T23:19:49Z

The Magpie and I were lazing the day away, watching Corner Gas, and they had a scene with a training montage to the theme of the 80's commercials called ParticipAction. Well, that was enough to send me on a YouTube time machine into my childhood!

There's even more

I really think that they should bring these commercials back -- not because they'll appeal to kids today (Darn kids today!! *shakes fist*) but because the commercials will appeal to us, the grups, and we'll get the kids off their lazy asses (or at least get ourselves up off our lazy asses) and do it, Do It, DO IT!!

Check these out:

Here's a claymation one!

This next one uses symbols that I remember from the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in 1976... coincidence?

Ahhh.... the internets. A gateway to our childhood.

Enough reminscing, I have to go touch my toes. (I'll do it with a friend, we both can bend!)

Take a deep breath....

2009-08-03T17:11:41Z

Only one month to Dragon*Con!!!!

Oh... crapcrapcrap*squeeeee*crapcrap!!!!

And have you checked out the guest list in the past few weeks? Awesome!

Oooh, and we got the little program thingy in the mail a while back.

Is anyone planning on going to the Aquarium night? (We're not at this point... maybe next year!)

Vietnamese subs are worth the wait

2009-07-30T17:48:49Z

When you come to Calgary (not if, when) we'll take you to the best "banh mi" place in town. Just remember to get in line well before you're actually hungry!

Calgary Folk Fest 2009

2009-07-27T04:11:31Z

Loreena McKennitt closes the weekend - and what a glorious weekend it's been!

I need a vacation!

2009-04-23T22:56:55Z

WTF?!!? It was 22 degrees C on Monday, then it snowed 10 cm on Wednesday. Crazy weather!

I need to be back here. It was one of the best vacations ever. Highly recommended, even for a 3-minute virtual break by video...

Verana 2009 - The Houses from Heinz Legler on Vimeo.

Gas is on sale!

2009-03-26T19:54:13Z

BSG is over...

2009-03-22T19:10:24Z

... it's been quite a ride.

For those who didn't have enough proof of the relevance of BSG, here's a link to a session at the United Nations (yes, really!) that a few of the cast and writers were invited to.

There's a lot of info about this online. I thought that I'd link to the UN page that has the video archives.

Once you get there, scroll down to March 17th for the links.

Enjoy.

I'm procrastinating... and I need your help!

2009-03-05T21:07:54Z

Instead of doing taxes and bookkeeping stuff that I have to get done, I'm cleaning my desk and rolling my change.

Here's a question: why do I have so few nickels?

I ended up with:

103 pennies
41 nickels
104 dimes
121 quarters
35 loonies
36 toonies

(Yay, I'm rich! I love having $1 and $2 coins -- there's a fortune sitting on your desk and you don't even realise.... Maybe I'll go buy an Apple TV finally.)

I attribute the low numbers of loonies and toonies to the fact that I grab those out of the coin jar to use them, but I never grab quarters or anything smaller.

So why so few nickels?

Maybe there's a mathematical answer out there. I'd go find it myself, but I really have to go bake a cake.

Let me know in the comments, 'k?

Xmas tree safety

2008-12-29T23:21:19Z

Amazing fire safety video. I'd tell you more about it, but I have to go water our tree.....

Have a safe holiday!

More soon!

2008-12-28T03:10:04Z

Happy holidays everyone!

I can't believe I'm at the Flames game instead of watching it on new TV!? (And this is the first chance I get to post!)

Christmas has been great, if a little hectic.

More updates soon. On the meantIme, here's a view from the seats!

Raj

Western Final

2008-11-15T23:58:18Z

15 - 15 at the start of the 4th!

No doubt in my mind...

2008-11-14T17:22:06Z

You'll be sterilized with FEAR

2008-11-01T18:28:14Z

Happy Halloween everyone!

Here's a timely story about the sequel to The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

If you haven't seen the first movie, where the heck have you been? It's terribly funny.

As a bonus, the movie contains the best explanation to-date of how Scientists think!

Science? Magic? The Force...?

2008-10-29T23:20:23Z

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- A.C. Clarke.

I want.

Okay, seriously, must sleep now!!

Steampunk. Steampunk. Wired. Steampunk.

2008-10-29T23:07:22Z

I love old-timey rayguns.

And I really enjoy Wired.

I wish I lived in the Bay Area. It seems like so much cool stuff goes on there.

*sigh*

Must go sleep before another night shift. I suppose shouldn't really be making important decisions on 3 hours sleep.

Cool vintage site

2008-10-17T05:30:20Z

Hey gang,

The High Holy Days of Halloween are fast-approaching.

If anyone out there needs some ideas for vintage-looking props, have a look at this website.

Enjoy!

Advice from a doctor... Part 2

2008-10-16T00:16:07Z

Okay, so we've learned that to have a successful visit to the doctor, being honest is one key ingredient.

The second is...

Be Prepared.

Sure, this sounds overly simplistic, but I mean it.

Be prepared: know what you're going in to the doctor for.

Seriously. Do you really want an x-ray, or are you really just worried about what's causing that pain?

Do you really want a certain medication because your friend found it helpful (or because the TV said it's the latest/greatest), or would you like us to assess your personal situation and sort out what might be best for you?

It's okay to have some ideas as to what we might need to do to figure out what's going on with you, but going to the doctor asking for an x-ray is like taking your car to the mechanic because it's veering left and asking to test the steering wheel.

Sure, that might be the problem, but why not run the symptoms by us first to see if we can come up with something that might be more likely to be causing the symptoms...? (The bigger problem arises when the mechanic (doctor) sells you the steering wheel (x-ray) and you leave thinking that things are better, but then get into an accident (sicker) a little while later because we didn’t fix the right part.

Doctors are human, and are sometimes lazy / busy / distracted enough to just do what you tell them or ask of them… sometimes to your detriment.

Remember that in the last section, I mentioned that we figure out the diagnosis based on history about 80% of the time? So, be prepared for that.

Be prepared to give an accurate, detailed story.

It frustrates doctors when we ask about symptoms and people just answer, "I don't know, it's just been hurting." Think about it, man!! I get that it hurts like crazy and that it's interfering with your life. I get that. I'm trying to figure out how to make it better. Work with me.

I'm going to ask you when and how the problem started, how it's been since then, what you've tried so far to help it, including over-the-counter medications and other self-treatments. I'll move on to what makes the symptoms better/worse/different. I'm looking for patterns of change to help sort out what the cause might be.

For example, a person with chest pain might answer that the pain starts centrally, below their ribs, feels tight and achy, and gets worse when they walk up stairs, but never occurs when they're sitting at their desk. It might be associated with mild nausea and sweating. That’s totally different that the person who comes in with chest pain that’s pokey and sharp and gets worse when they cough or take a deep breath.

(Don't worry about figuring all these patterns out on your own. A good doctor is like a good lawyer -- they know when to ask the open-ended questions and they know when to "lead the witness" if they're looking for specifics. Don't let the doctor put words in your mouth though. For example, if we call it "pain" but to you it's not pain but just "tingling" then correct us. The sooner the better.)

In Med School, we learn a pattern of questioning we called “QQWWAA” to help sort out pain symptoms. It works for symptoms other than pain, and it's a good example of why we keep pestering you with all these questions. We're trying to sort things out...

Quantity. (Really? This is the worst pain you can imagine? Or is this not as bad as your migraine?)

Quality. Sharp and pokey? Dull and throbbing? Tearing? Heaviness? Tightness? Burning? Or maybe like an electric shock…?

When. (does the symptom occur)? When you take a deep breath? When you swallow? When you poke at it? At night? After eating?

Where. In your side? In your left ear, going into your throat when you swallow? In your lower back? Shooting down one leg? Or maybe it started in your general tummy area, but now it’s only on the right lower side of your tummy?

Aggravating/Alleviating. (factors.) Like, it’s there all the time, but when I lean forward, it gets worse. Or maybe the dizziness gets better when you close your eyes. Maybe it gets worse?

Associated. (symptoms). What goes along with the main symptom that you’re describing? Perhaps you have a stomach ache, but also have noticed that you’ve been getting muscle cramps lately, and that you usually don’t get cramps. Maybe you’re in with blurry vision and noticed that you’ve been peeing more than usual for a while. Maybe that stomach pain went along with a lack of appetite.

All right. So, we’ve gotten some history of the “presenting complaint” as we say in the field. Now, we’d like to know a bit about you. “Past Medical History”, “Family History” and things like which medications you’re on and allergies (including the name of the drug and what your personal allergic reaction was, if you can remember). It drives me nuts when I get, “Oh, I’m allergic to some antibiotic, I think. It almost killed me when I was a kid, but I don’t remember then name of it.” Hmmm… vague much?

Okay, so you get the idea. Be prepared. Think about the problem that brings you in, and anything that you can think of that might help us help you figure it out.

That brings me to an important point, and it has to do with communication again.

If you’re worried that your problem might be due to something in particular, say it out loud to the doctor! If you’re thinking in the back of your mind that that lump might be cancer, then ask us that!! We can’t read your mind, and cancer might not be anywhere on our list of possibilities for your problem, but that won’t help you feel better when you’re driving home thinking, “the doctor didn’t say it wasn’t cancer.”

Please, if you have an idea, be prepared to share it with your doctor.

You’ll feel better, and the doctor will have done a better job. I often ask my patients, “What do you think is causing this?” And they usually have an idea; often not too far from the correct cause, often way off base, but that always opens the door to the follow-up question of, “why do you think it might be a ____?”

Lastly, if you really think that your doctor is way off-base in their thinking, or if they seem to just be ordering tests to buy some time, be prepared to ask them a few follow-up questions of your own.

What else could be causing this? Are these tests helpful in ruling out (or ruling in) a certain diagnosis? What should I be doing in the meantime while we wait for the results? Is there anything I can do to speed recovery? When should I come back? Is there anything I should be watching for?

And, given that many doctors are poor communicators, don’t hesitate to ask “So, what do you think is going on, exactly?” (i.e. what’s my diagnosis!?) Get them to write it out or spell it for you, and look it up later!

Doctors throw a bunch of information at patients with each visit. A lot of that info is in the form of acronyms and weird medical words that nobody can really expect you to remember for any length of time. In fact, there has been some good research that shows that patients remember about 20% of what doctors tell them by the time they reach their car. Even less by the time they get home.

So be prepared to write down the diagnosis, instructions, etc along with follow-up plans and even the doctor’s name if they aren’t your regular doc.

That’s step number two to a successful interaction with a doctor: Be Prepared.

I hope that this has been helpful. I look forward to your comments.

--

Advice from a doctor...

2008-10-12T22:31:52Z

Ever since I read the post about general musings on life from rgusmc1 I've been wanting to post a little something from my perspective of an Urgent Care MD.

When you take time out of your busy life to see the doctor, there are some things that you can do to make the interaction just a little easier. (And there are a crapload of things that we doctors and nurses could do, too, but that's another post.)

Some of you will see this as bossy, but it's from my perspective, not yours. I hope this doesn't start a flame war -- but I have the burn cream ready just in case.

Anyways. First rule of seeing the doctor:

1. Be honest. (i.e. if you're at the ER because you did something stupid, come clean about it up front.)

I saw a guy once who came in complaining of abdominal pain. He was pretty vague about when it started, what happened to him, etc. We eventually did an x-ray, and it turns out that he had a softball (yes, a softball) up his bum.

Now, I try not to be judgemental when it comes to what you do in your own home when you're bored, but once it involves me, I expect some honestly and openness. I promise I won't judge you. (Maybe your actions, but not you. I promise.)

When I returned from looking at the x-ray and asked, "You've got a pretty interesting x-ray. Do you want to tell me what happened?" he did eventually admit to something up his bum, but the story was pure fiction. His version had to do with coming home from softball practice and being in a rush to take a shower. He dumped his sports bag on the floor of the bathroom and hopped in the shower. Sadly, when he got out, so he said, he slipped on the wet floor and landed ass-first on the ball. Which, naturally, was forced deep inside his rectum.

Riiiight.... Sure. Sorry, but that cannot happen. (Thank goodness!)

I guess it doesn't really make a difference to me in this case how it got up there, but there are cases when the mechanism of injury plays a big role in the tests we do and what's called our "differential diagnosis" - the list of possibilities as to what's going on. That's the list that we mentally sort and re-order depending on the history and physical exam, and, if needed, x-rays, blood tests, etc.

Example: a guy was brought in from jail with a bruised face and tender chest and abdomen. He had told the nurses and guards that he accidentally rolled out of the top bunk and hurt himself when he landed.

After a bunch of cajoling about telling the truth (he didn't want to be known as a "rat") he admitted that he had actually been beaten by a group of inmates and that they had kicked him in the gut and chest after knocking him out.

If I hadn't known the real story, I might not have ordered the CT which showed the broken ribs and ruptured spleen. It's all about mechanism of injury....

Same goes for illness (as opposed to injury). Don't embellish nor minimize your symptoms, and if you really don't know the answer to a question I ask, get some clarification or ask for a second to think about it. If the answer wasn't important, I wouldn't be asking.

(Having said that, I'll be the first to acknowledge that many many doctors are terrible communicators and that we don't take the time to listen to the answers to the questions we pose. It has been shown that poor communication between doctor and patient is the number one reason (by far) for patient dissatisfaction and even litigation. But that topic is a post of its own....)

Anyways. Be honest.

As I tell the folks who are brought in by the police to be fixed up before spending the night in jail, "you can lie to the cops, but don't lie to your doctor -- you get inappropriate or just plain bad care."

And nobody deserves bad care.

Post-Its Galore

2008-09-19T06:38:42Z

Saw this online a few days ago and thought I must share it with the world.

Remember those Diet Coke + Mentos guys?

Well, they stay dry during this one, but it's no less amazing.

And filmed in HD no less.

It's worth the few minutes -- go now!! Enjoy!

Politics Schmolitcs

2008-09-16T02:33:09Z

You might have noticed that Politics is not listed in my "interests" on LJ.

Politics bug me.

It might be that I'm stuck in the riding that has, for our Member of Parilament, the tard who called Nelson Mandella "a communist and a terrorist" and who is gagged by his own party -- so much so that he was told not to campaign in the last election, and was told to leave town instead. (He still won, by the way. We live in Redneck Alberta, after all. As I once said to a Conservative candidate who knocked on our door, "You could run a dead dog as a Conservative in this riding and it would still win.")

It might be that our current leaders care more about winning a majority than governing the country. (They broke their own law regarding fixed election dates to call this election. Of course, that law was just for looks anyways. Obviously.)

It might be other things. Like the election in the US. Why can't we have leaders that inspire us? Candidates who call for unity and progressive change rather than dicking around like a bunch of little schoolboys who won't let others play, or who will just call each other names rather than have a thoughtful conversation.

This is the first time in my life that I've considered not voting in an election.

And then there's the election down south. Even though it goes on far too long, at least there's some interesting options amongst the leaders. I can't for a second imagine why anyone wouldn't vote for Obama, but then I don't know enough about US politics to really comment.

There is this one guy who does, however. Writes for the NY Times, no less. You might want to have a read. (You might need to register, but it's free.)

And feel sorry for us poor Canadians who are stuck with choosing between a schmuck with some green ideas that will never win him any seats in Parliament, or a bastard who would lie to his own mother to gain a majority... or two other choices who likely won't win anyways.

I can't wait til this is all over and we can get onto Christmas shopping. (Don't get me started....)