I have to be honest and retract a statement I made in one of my earlier posts about how, as a Sox fan, I prefer a cup of coffee to any tall cappucino...well, that's not really true...
See it all started with this last rotation in Peoria. Part of the deal they give visiting students down there is free food in the always-open cafeteria. Anytime, all day, as many times as you want, as much as you want. And, every day, I would see, in nice tall glass coolers, all these bottles of Starbucks Frappucino. And, while I love coffee, I can never drink it hot and always need to wait for it to cool down. This is something of an inconvenience (I know, I'm weird) especially when you only have a minute or two to scarf down breakfast in order to start on time. So one day, I gave in and decided I would try these refrigerated coffees that looked so tempting in their slick packaging and their promise of sugar, coffee, mocha and milk...
And I became hooked. I mean, I absolutely love the stuff. I could drink it all day, any time, on any pretext.
I felt bad about it. I mean, here I was, this South Sider going soft, flirting with danger. I mean, if I started drinking Frappucinos, what was next? Wearing polo shirts? Saving up to buy a Jetta? Watching Gilmore Girls?...well, actually, I do watch Gilmore Girls...for the great plots...
As it was, I started drinking Frappucinos every day and, towards the end of my rotation, even experimented with the "Double Shot" a super-caffeinated espresso (very good) and Mountain Dew's Amp (not very good, too much sugar, not enough caffeine).
So there, I've confessed (perhaps more than I wanted to). I'm still a Sox fan, but I love Frappucinos, cappucinos and pretty much anything else Starbucks makes. Heck, I would drink them at a Sox home game. And I'll take all the disapproving stares, because they just don't know what they're missing...
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Sweet taste of victory...
So Sunday night, after realizing I had Monday off, I decided to play Imran in a late night game of Madden 2006. Imran is under the illusion that he is the best Madden player in the greater Bolingbrook region, which probably stretches from Bangor to San Ysidro in his virtual little world. So to make the game a little more interesting, I picked one of the best teams in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, which immediately forced him to pick the Chicago Bears. My support of Green Bay is particularly irksome to Imran and I could see him already contemplating exactly how smug his look of satisfaction would be upon defeating me, a virtual dressing down of my Benedict Arnold-level defection to the Frozen Tundra...
The game was intense. Imran's offensive production is somewhat legendary, as he is known for quick scoring drives lasting less than a minute, usually on account of his West Coast-style offense. Unfortunately the West Coast would face a Tupac-like demise as my secondary mercilessly picked away at the inexperienced Rex Grossman, tallying over seven interceptions by the game's end.
I had built up a 14-0 lead from two interceptions that were converted into two successful scoring drives. It was looking like a break out game for me, but Imran launched a major comeback, shutting me out offensively for most of the second quarter and the entire third quarter. Meanwhile, he started scoring, but made a series of inexplicable mistakes when he missed the kicks for the extra point on two separate touchdowns and a failed two-point conversion on another TD.
Unfazed by his errors, he went on to take the lead in the 4th quarter with about 2:30 left in the game. It looked grim for Green Bay, as the offense had choked, sputtered and run itself into the ground. On the next posession (or maybe it was off an interception), I drove the ball all the way to the red zone and on 4th down was about 3 or 4 yards out from the end zone.
It was a big decision: take the field goal and then onside kick and try to take the game or go for it all and risk everything?
Of course, I went for it all and on a running play Ahman Green ran it without hesitation and danced his way in for the score. This is what separates a legendary sports team from one that has only the receding memory of 1985...
I won 35-32. Rather than the smug look of satisfaction, Imran looked like he had swallowed a box of prunes. I believe I looked considerably more elated, especially as I reminded Imran that the game would have been a tie and gone into overtime if he had only made the extra points after 3 of his touchdowns...
But as they say, a win is a win. And I'm savoring this one...
The game was intense. Imran's offensive production is somewhat legendary, as he is known for quick scoring drives lasting less than a minute, usually on account of his West Coast-style offense. Unfortunately the West Coast would face a Tupac-like demise as my secondary mercilessly picked away at the inexperienced Rex Grossman, tallying over seven interceptions by the game's end.
I had built up a 14-0 lead from two interceptions that were converted into two successful scoring drives. It was looking like a break out game for me, but Imran launched a major comeback, shutting me out offensively for most of the second quarter and the entire third quarter. Meanwhile, he started scoring, but made a series of inexplicable mistakes when he missed the kicks for the extra point on two separate touchdowns and a failed two-point conversion on another TD.
Unfazed by his errors, he went on to take the lead in the 4th quarter with about 2:30 left in the game. It looked grim for Green Bay, as the offense had choked, sputtered and run itself into the ground. On the next posession (or maybe it was off an interception), I drove the ball all the way to the red zone and on 4th down was about 3 or 4 yards out from the end zone.
It was a big decision: take the field goal and then onside kick and try to take the game or go for it all and risk everything?
Of course, I went for it all and on a running play Ahman Green ran it without hesitation and danced his way in for the score. This is what separates a legendary sports team from one that has only the receding memory of 1985...
I won 35-32. Rather than the smug look of satisfaction, Imran looked like he had swallowed a box of prunes. I believe I looked considerably more elated, especially as I reminded Imran that the game would have been a tie and gone into overtime if he had only made the extra points after 3 of his touchdowns...
But as they say, a win is a win. And I'm savoring this one...
Sunday, September 04, 2005
An extra day...
Thought I was scheduled to start a rotation in cardiology on Monday (Labor Day) and was kind of bummed out about having to work on a holiday. Then I thought I would double-check my paperwork and was more than pleasantly surprised to find out that we are to report on Tuesday...
The elation of having a day off that you thought you were working is hard to describe. It would be like having recess again in the middle of your work day ("Okay everyone, you can stop writing notes on patients because it's time for recess! First two to the blacktop get to be captains for 4 square"). Those were the days, when the best part of the day was playing kickball, running to the jungle gym or going so high on the swings the poles holding the swings down would shake. It's been a long while since I've swung on a swing...maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, with the day off I wasn't expecting...
The elation of having a day off that you thought you were working is hard to describe. It would be like having recess again in the middle of your work day ("Okay everyone, you can stop writing notes on patients because it's time for recess! First two to the blacktop get to be captains for 4 square"). Those were the days, when the best part of the day was playing kickball, running to the jungle gym or going so high on the swings the poles holding the swings down would shake. It's been a long while since I've swung on a swing...maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, with the day off I wasn't expecting...
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Back from P-town
I'm back from my rotation in radiology down in Peoria. It was a great experience and I'm really impressed with the residency program and would love to go there. The faculty are distinguished and a forward-thinking group (interventional radiologists with their own clinic?) and they have a dominant position in the hospital as far as turf goes, which means that the surgeons (thoracic or vascular) and cardiologists don't steal all the interesting cases. It is a busy hospital and the support staff and services are just great. It would be perfect if only the cafeteria's guiding philosophy wasn't "it's not good eatin' til it's dead and fried".
These past few days have been dwarfed by the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina. I didn't watch much news while at my rotation and just watched about an hour of coverage now and am just shocked by the living conditions of the refugees. The violent crimes being committed are almost as shocking - it is in this setting that one truly begins to understand the Quran's injunction that whosoever kills a person unjustly, it is as if he has killed all of humanity. At the same time, I've heard stories of hospital staff in New Orleans taking turns to ventilate patients by hand when they lost power - and this reminds me of the other half of that verse in the Qur'an, that whoever saves a life, it is like he has saved all of humanity. Examples of both evil and nobility are rampant in New Orleans...certainly my prayers are with the sick and displaced, may Allah replace their hardship with ease and grant the sick cure that leaves behind no illness.
I don't get much of a break in my schedule - start a cardiology rotation at Cook County on Monday. Will probably have to spend the weekend reviewing cardiac pathophysiology and finalizing my application for residency programs. Busy times for this fool...
These past few days have been dwarfed by the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina. I didn't watch much news while at my rotation and just watched about an hour of coverage now and am just shocked by the living conditions of the refugees. The violent crimes being committed are almost as shocking - it is in this setting that one truly begins to understand the Quran's injunction that whosoever kills a person unjustly, it is as if he has killed all of humanity. At the same time, I've heard stories of hospital staff in New Orleans taking turns to ventilate patients by hand when they lost power - and this reminds me of the other half of that verse in the Qur'an, that whoever saves a life, it is like he has saved all of humanity. Examples of both evil and nobility are rampant in New Orleans...certainly my prayers are with the sick and displaced, may Allah replace their hardship with ease and grant the sick cure that leaves behind no illness.
I don't get much of a break in my schedule - start a cardiology rotation at Cook County on Monday. Will probably have to spend the weekend reviewing cardiac pathophysiology and finalizing my application for residency programs. Busy times for this fool...
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Random
Well, tomorrow I head off to the southerly climes of Peoria--well, okay it is just two hours or so south of where I live--to do a rotation in interventional radiology. I am really looking forward to the rotation as Peoria has a strong residency program that is affiliated with U of I and I would love to train there. And it's not so far away that I wouldn't be able to visit Chicago on weekends...
Saw the movie Hotel Rwanda last night. It really captures the horror of what took place there and the drama of survival in such circumstances. In 1994, when the movie took place, I was a high school junior whose primary obsession was figuring out how to get into the best colleges and whether I would win at weekend speech competitions. Yet across the ocean, there were nearly a million people that died in a brutal genocide during 100 days of madness.
Interestingly, Illinois just passed a law requiring high schools to teach students about modern-day genocides, from the Holocaust to Bosnia, Rwanda and the current crisis in Darfur. Illinois was also the first state in the nation to pass a law, this past June, cutting all financial ties the state had with the Sudanese government.
Saw the movie Hotel Rwanda last night. It really captures the horror of what took place there and the drama of survival in such circumstances. In 1994, when the movie took place, I was a high school junior whose primary obsession was figuring out how to get into the best colleges and whether I would win at weekend speech competitions. Yet across the ocean, there were nearly a million people that died in a brutal genocide during 100 days of madness.
Interestingly, Illinois just passed a law requiring high schools to teach students about modern-day genocides, from the Holocaust to Bosnia, Rwanda and the current crisis in Darfur. Illinois was also the first state in the nation to pass a law, this past June, cutting all financial ties the state had with the Sudanese government.
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