Reality TV is now a vice

I admit that I have recently gotten quite into American Idol and Survivor. I have to say that I was a bit slower to take to the Survivor show-- while watching the first couple of episodes, I wasn't quite sure what to think. They were a bit slow with the "challenges" and I wasn't quite sure how all this alliance-building goes. I'm starting to get interested in the Survivor Fiji season; however, I'm still much more into Idol.

These shows are taking up a lot of my time! Idol has been running Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because they are still at the stage where there are so many contestants that for each of them to sing makes each show last 1-1.5 hours! Although I do have a lot of free time this year, even this is getting a bit cumbersome. We have been having watch-the-taped-versions-without-commericals get togethers at John and Wendi's to save on a bit of time and because we have had other commitments on Idol nights.

So I was over there yesterday for the Idol "results" and also for the regular Thursday Survivor show. I am starting to realize that even I have started to develop strong opinions about some of these contestants. Whereas before, I was really appalled at the criticism from the judges (Simon in particular) and felt it was really harsh (he told one guy he looked like a bush baby!), now I am finding myself criticizing certain people. I'm not alone, either! John and Wendi really, really don't like this one guy (on Idol), Sanjaya. Here's a picture for those of you who don't watch this show.

DON'T READ ANY FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT ABOUT YESTERDAY'S RESULTS.

Okay, I agree that he isn't the hottest guy on the planet. He doesn't have the most outgoing personality. He's only 17 too. The Kits think I like him just because he's "my people" (he's of Indian descent). I genuinely think he has a very good voice. But I agree-- he's a bit lacking on the stage presence and they thought it was just painful to watch him sing an oldie in a top hat the other night. To all of our extreme surprise, he wasn't eliminated from the last round of competition, which relies on America's votes for contestants! As Christine Ziemba wrote, "Sanjaya Malakar must have his whole high school voting for him. Again and again. There's no reason why the kid is still on the show. " Here's what a different pretty harsh online article (Michael Slezak) had to say about him: "Now we'll have to endure at least one more week of Sanjaya Malakar performing with the confidence of a baby deer trying to cross an eight-lane highway, ...". I thought this comment was pretty funny. But I really don't think Sanjaya is that bad! We were also surprised that Antonella Barba, an extremely beautiful but only marginally-talented girl who didn't quite get Celine Dion right, was not eliminated last night. I don't want to think it's just because she's hot. But I don't know.

In any case, I won't talk more about other eliminations, i.e. on Survivor. But I do want to caution that I feel like I'm becoming more critical and opinionated by continuing to watch these shows. I try not to be too judgemental and really do generally try to find the best in everyone, but sometimes it's hard. Some people just aren't as good as others.

So here's a lighter quote on criticism I remember reading on a "wise words" posting a little while ago:

"If you're going to criticize someone, first walk a mile in his/her shoes. Then, when you criticize him/her, you are a mile away. And you have his/her shoes."
:)

Cute picture and some updates

Isn't this picture adorable? I saw it on cnn.com in an article about how this Sumatran tiger cub and baby orangutans (all abandoned by their mothers and living in an Indonesian zoo) are and will be "inseparable playmates" until, at three months of age, the tiger's natural instincts will kick in and the orangutans will become "not playmates, but lunch." Speaking of orange hair, here are a couple of pics that Wendi took last night of the new dye job. I thought that guys didn't notice things like this but yesterday in the LRC, Travis came up to me and was like, "Did you color your hair?" Eesh. So much for subtlety. At least hair grows out. The only reason I'm posting these specific photos is because Jesse (whose birthday it is today-- Happy birthday!) and Sharon (one of few who probably remember my skunky incident in high school) asked for them. I'd rather not draw attention to the semi-disaster.
And an update on the car: I got it out on Tuesday!! A combination of salt and mesh traction thingies did the trick! Nicole helped me and, by the time the Joneses came over (in case we needed to do some pushing!), we were almost out. So I moved my car to the other side of the lot (which gets more sun). But it started snowing again yesterday. And we got some freezing rain overnight. I thought about trying to move my car to one of the hospital lots (i.e. SMH or Baldwin) to prevent against future being-stuck episodes before this next big storm; however, I was too lazy and now it is just sitting outside, accumulating a layer of snow. We are expected to get up to 15 inches by tomorrow (plus wintry mix) and there are all kinds of emergency plans in effect; however, I hope that this ice is not as big a problem this time. If it is, at least I have some options to try.

Ice....nice.....NOT!

You have to read the title in a Borat accent. Rob does the best one I've heard. Or, if you haven't seen the movie, see it.

Anyway. I HATE ICE. We had a lot of snow this weekend, but I have been able to dig my car out, as well as crack the thick ice that covered the windshields and windows (albeit at the expense of my longtime scraper, whose teeth broke off since I chiseled so hard). However, I have STILL not been able to move my car, which is incredibly frustrating to me. It just limits me, when there are several things I need to do this week mainly concerning a bridal shower we are having for Katie, Erin, and Tia this weekend. I don't like not being independent and having to rely on people for rides/transportation, or anything else for that matter (even though I have incredibly generous friends who offer their cars).

The deal is that my car is sitting ontop of about an inch of compacted ice, so that when I try to reverse the car out of its spot, all that happens is that the wheels spin. I've tried rocking the car forward and back. I've tried reversing while someone pushed. I've prayed. I've stepped on the gas so much that I smell that burning rubber smell when I get out. Not good. Lesley and David gave me some plastic mesh thingies to try to place behind the wheels for traction. This I will try. I stopped some guy salting the sidewalks this morning and asked him what he would do about this unfortunate situation. He told me to try kitty litter. I may try salt as well. Or some combo of those. Or, as someone else suggested, just pour a bunch of boiling water on the ice to try to temporarily melt it long enough to get out. However, this may just compound the problem since it will just refreeze-- I think our temps are staying on or just below 30. Grr.

And even worse news? After reading Wendi's blog, I hear we are supposed to get maybe another foot of snow tomorrow. This is urgent! It is imperative I get my car out and move it to the sunnier side of the parking lot so that I have a chance of being able to use it for the rest of the winter!!!!!!!!!!!!! I gotta run!

SNOW and my first trip (as a patient) to the Saint Mary's ER

We have gotten a ton of snow in the past 2 days (for pictures, please see Wendi or Kristen's blogs). I think there was 14 or something inches on the ground yesterday by early afternoon, when I decided to take a little expedition. With my newfound vow to buy minimal amounts of groceries and wanting some fresh air/exercise, I decided I would trek to the Hyvee by Barlow Plaza and buy a bag's worth of fresh fruit and veggies. To walk seemed perfect because I would be limited by the fact that I would have to carry my purchases home, although the store is less than a mile away. So I donned two pairs of pants, fleece, my big winter coat, and boots and set out on my way.

It was really quite a pleasant walk... until about 2 blocks from the grocery store. It was still snowing and there were very few sidewalks that were shoveled, so I ended up walking in the street for most of the trip, but it was very warm (i.e. around 30) and I was enjoying being outside. Then, when I got up 11th Ave., I saw this German Shepherd darting between this house's driveway and the street, nearly getting hit by oncoming traffic, and barking up a storm. I was walking on the same side of the street that this dog apparently "belonged," but I just tried to keep calm, keep walking, and not let the dog "smell" my fear.

That didn't work too well. I made it past the driveway but then felt its teeth sink into the flesh of my left leg. I heard someone yell for the dog and it ran around to the back of the house. Rather than thinking through things, going up to the house and asking about rabies vaccination, I just wanted to get the heck out of there, so I continued walking to Hyvee.

Once there, I did check out the wound. The dog's teeth had punctured my windpants and broken my skin, but my workout pants underneath didn't seem to have a hole in them. So, although the wound hurt and was a bit bruised and swollen, as well as bleeding a little, I tried to convince myself that I didn't need to seek medical attention because there had been a "barrier" between the dog's saliva and my skin (again, proof that I am a terrible patient). Lesley called and, after relating this to her, she came right away to Hyvee to pick me up. After looking at my leg, she felt like I should probably go to the ER and get it looked at to perhaps get antibiotic prophylaxis (animals' mouths carry all kinds of funny organisms like Pasteurella) even if I didn't need rabies immunoglobulin. So to Saint Mary's we went. To give you an idea, here's a picture of my leg, taken once I got home.

It wasn't too bad of an ER experience. Actually, it was quite interesting being on the "patient" side of things. I was there for about an hour and a half (luckily, I had a book [you may ask, who brings a book when she's walking to Hyvee for groceries and back?! But I always have one, for situations just like this one]). I learned that the steps I needed to take were to go back to the house, see what the animal's rabies vaccination status was, wash the wound, and take some ibuprofen for pain/ Amoxicillin for 5 days. It was actually quite funny when the PA was interviewing me-- he saw all these rabies shots in my immunization record and, thinking I had been bitten lots of times, thought I should "reconsider my career choice or something." I had had many (prophylactic shots) growing up while living in Asia, where there are many stray dogs. And I got a tetanus and rabies vaccination in 2005 before going to Peru.

In any case, once we left Saint Mary's, Lesley and I went back to the culprit house to talk to the owners (I was so glad I wasn't alone!). Lesley got out of the car wielding an ice scraper as a weapon should we spot the wild animal, and we knocked on the door. The owners were really surprised that "Hannah" had bitten me, as she never has bitten anyone else, and there are several children that live in the house. She is usually confined to the backyard but must have escaped due to the high snowdrifts. The owners did confirm that she has had her rabies shots. Someone I talked to today said that I should totally make them pay for the ER visit when I get my bill. This didn't really cross my mind yesterday and I realize that I don't have the owner's last name (she scribbled her first, as well as her phone number on a slip of paper for me). But I'm not sure that this is appropriate. I guess it was my own fault for walking past this dog. I don't know. In any case, I'm supposedly in the clear for rabies for now, unless this dog becomes very sick in the next 10 days. Tell me if you think I start acting crazy or if I have foam coming out of my mouth.

Hair Scare

About once a year, usually as springtime nears (the timeline sometimes needs to be modified due to winters in Minnesota), I try to highlight my own hair. Now, some people may say "you get what you pay for" and recommend going to a salon to have this professionally done. Although I had one bad experience back in high school when I used a highlighting kit and ended up with blonde streaks, earning me the nickname "skunk," I generally disagree. And I'm cheap. So, for the past 5 years or so, I go to the store, buy some permanent strawberry blonde-colored hair dye, and streak my hair in my own bathroom.

This color has worked well for me. Because my hair is so dark, I usually leave the dye in for about 5-10 minutes longer than the instructions "recommend" (usually it's blonds or light brunettes that want to go redder). I mix it as the instructions indicate, squeeze it out onto the provided gloves, and randomly pick chunks of hair to cover from root to tip. I try to do some around the part so that it is noticeable when I wear my hair down. But I try to concentrate on my "top layer" of hair (when I put it up in a ponytail) because that's what sees the sun and gets lighter with exposure. It's always worked out really well.

So, house-bound yesterday, I thought it would be a good time to try to lighten my hair (I bought the dye a couple of weeks ago). I didn't do 48-hour patch test that the instructions indicate one should do before every hair coloring. But I have never reacted to any brand of hair color, nor is my skin especially sensitive, and it's kind of annoying to, when I decide it's time to do the hair, do this test, wait 48 hours, and then go for the real deal. So I just took the risk of systemtic hypersensitivity. I'm such a bad patient.

The brand (L'oreal) I bought this time was a new one, and it had this nifty comb-like appendage you could add to the bottle top. I thought this would be perfect for highlighting purposes. So I went ahead and squeezed that to the roots around my part and used my hands to spread the dye down to the ends of my hair, in the front, etc. Then, as I was to wait 30 minutes before washing the stuff out, I went to watch yet another episode of Scrubs.

After the episode was over (they are about 20 minutes long, so this was 10 minutes before the time was "up"), I went back to look in the mirror to see if I could see anything happening, and nearly jumped out of my skin. My roots were bright reddish! I wondered if it was the dye changing color with time or whether that was the real color of my hair, but I immediately dunked my head under the faucet to wash the stuff out. I was really nervous that my hair had gotten super (skunk-like) light and started freaking out even more when, even with wet hair, I could see the red streaks (usually they are less noticeable when my hair is wet and dark). I then rushed to blow it dry, something I rarely ever do, to see the "end effect" when my hair dried.

Luckily, it doesn't look horrendous (to my eyes). You can definitely tell that I lightened it, especially when my hair is down, but it actually looks "softer" with my hair dried. It also looks much brighter under the hot fluorescent bathroom lights than in regular light. But I know I'm going to be slightly nervous the next time I try to do this on my own. I'd be interested in hearing your honest opinions about this outcome the next time you see my new auburn-streaked head of hair :)

I can't write any more right now, but stay tuned for another scary story tomorrow...

House-Bound amidst the storm

If you haven't heard, aren't living in Rochester, or if I haven't talked to you on the phone today (see below), we are currently getting hit by a massive winter storm. After my adventures in Denver in December, where it snowed about 36 inches in 48 hours or something, seriously screwing up travel, it's hard to get fazed by winter storm warnings of 10-17 inches. I take it back. This is some seriously bad weather.

It started up last evening but wasn't terrible-- by the time I left Erin's house (where Tia, Rob, Erin and I had a fun night of Mexican Trains), there was a couple of inches of wet, slippery snow on the roads. But there was enough bad weather to prevent Nicole (who I was supposed to pick up from the airport) from flying back from Australia to MN-- luckily, she is stranded in LA (yes, guys, she gets to enjoy even more time away from Rochester!), where she has family. Anyway, today, I slept in (till 8!) and puttered around, not having any real reason to leave the apartment. I worked on my poster for a while (which is frustrating me because I'm having a hard time fitting all the figures and tables in!), watched one of my netflix movies (Sweet November- just ok), read a bit, and then decided to venture outside to see if I could make it to the gym.

Well. This is one of those times when a garage would be a good thing to have in Minnesota. My car, along with the parking lot, streets, etc. was covered in about a half inch of ice. I couldn't get the key to turn in the driver's side lock. Although I was able to key open and bust open the passenger's side door (I just wanted to see if it would open-- at this point, I knew I would NOT be going anywhere but I want to know if there's a chance I would be frozen out of my car), I knew my car would need some serious scraping when the storm did let up. I came promptly back inside and resumed my spot on the couch, under a blanket. It's that kind of day.

So how have I passed the time? I am fairly good at occupying myself at home. I read some more, watched episode after episode of Scrubs (sooo glad I got Season 5 from Tia last night!), and TALK, TALK, TALKED on the phone. I literally was on the phone from about 1:30 until 5:30, requiring an emergent recharging of my previously-charged phone (this had not happened before). Who did I talk to? Here's the list: Justin, Cathleen, Molly, Nicole, Lesley (briefly), Erin, Mom, and Dad. Somehow this took four hours, which is some fairly serious talking from someone who was never a big phone person. But if you read this and are bored or want to be added to the list (especially if you have Sprint service :)), call me. I'd love to chat :)

I probably need to go to the store in the next few days for some fresh food (I got rid of some at our "save the leftovers"potluck last night [see Wendi's post]). But since I've been trying very hard recently to use up stuff from my cupboards/thaw stuff from the freezer, I wondered how long I could go without restocking, i.e. if this weather stops any travel in the city for more than a couple of days. Seriously, I bet I could last a month house-bound! I think, from now on (storm or no storm), I'm only going to buy fruit and lettuce at the grocery store and see how long I can go on the other stuff :)

How long am I going to be house-bound in this stretch? Well, I checked the weather and the forecast for every hour for the next 36 hours has the word "snow" next to it. It's not looking real good for any expeditions in the near future. And eventually scraping and digging out my car with a foot or more of snow ontop of this ice is going to be some serious aerobic exercise. Nicole, Natasha, Hans, and other people supposed to be coming back here are probably, unfortunately, stranded in strange places or airports. But I'm totally content right now. Candles are lit, it's very warm and hygge (a Danish word meaning something like "cozy") in here as I listen to the wind whistle outside, and I don't have to go anywhere for a long time...

Derma-holiday

It is the last day of my first week of Derm. Now some people may think I'm doing this rotation just for its reputation of being an "easy" one, much as the "lifestyle" of practicing dermatologists (along with anesthesiologists, ophthalmologists, and radiologists) is viewed to be. This is not true. As a family medicine doctor, I will be seeing a ton of skin complaints, so I really do want to get more exposure to dermatitis, rashes, lesions, etc. I want to be able to take care of "lumps and bumps" in my office, so I wanted to do some more biopsies, sewing, freezing, etc. It makes sense to do this rotation. But it is totally cake.

I usually come in around 8 a.m. and have been done around 4-4:30 (sometimes with 2-hour lunch breaks!) most days. It's very chill. Although I am totally comfortable going in first, taking patients' histories and doing an exam, and then talking to a resident/consultant, this often just backs things up. Most of these things are very fast, straightforward, and so visual that it is generally more efficient to just go in together. And, despite being a fourth year and supposedly "beyond" shadowing, I don't really mind the passivity of the learning that is going on. I really don't care anymore (about much of anything!). I'm seeing, I'm learning, I'm doing some little procedures. It's fairly mindless. But it's all good. I'm not sure I can take any more than 2 weeks total of full-time checking out and scraping weird rashes (I prefer to have it "sprinkled in" among other stuff), but it's a very relaxing way to spend a couple of weeks towards the end of the fourth year.

I've seen a lot of dermatitis, exacerbated especially by the fact that the air in MN is soooooo dry in the winter (on a personal note, I'm allergic to this Avaguard water-free scrub that's all around, so I end up washing my hands about a bazillion times a day, and I myself have to use Vanicream [this is a cream that is only sold in Rochester!] around the clock). I've seen a good amount of acne in teenagers-- it boggles my mind how many different washes, creams, pills, etc. people try for this. I've seen my share of questionable fungal rashes although I have yet to see a positive KOH prep. There are a lot of skin checks and skin cancer follow-ups. There have been two young children with fairly large periorbital hemangiomas which, although bothersome to parents, generally involute spontaneously and should just be watched. And a couple of weird things, such as nephrogenic sclerosing dermopathy (NSD), sprinkled in. Yesterday, I had the most spritely 75-year old woman I had ever met bounce around the room while she told me about all these "growths" (seborrheic keratoses) that were just "soooo irritating!!!" and that she just wanted "OFF!!!", which was quite amusing. I've also had a couple of patients with virtually nonexistent tiny telangiectasias on their cheeks that they just had to have lasered off because they were so disturbing. This I don't have too much patience for, but there is patient demand.

Another cool thing (related to dermatology) is that the speaker at the Internal Medicine Grand Rounds on Wednesday was Dr. Michael Oxman, the primary author of the New England Journal of Medicine article that spearheaded my research project! He spoke on the findings of the Shingles Prevention Study, one which showed that a new Merck vaccine (Zostavax) was extremely effective in reducing the incidence and burden of illness of herpes zoster (shingles) in adults over 60 years of age. The FDA has now widely approved this vaccine for all immunocompetent adults in this age range. My research project involved determining the epidemiology of (and risk factors for) zoster in renal transplant patients in case such a vaccine might be of use in this population.

So I will be working a bit on the layout of my research poster this weekend. And, because I don't have to go back to the clinic until Monday morning, I will surely be enjoying my weekend off! Yay for derma-holiday.