Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2008 Running in review

I logged 665.1 miles over a total of 5 days and 11 hours in 2008.

Decent.

New Year's Eve Triathlon

Abs and I did our own triathlon today...

RUN! I ran 3 miles, she joined me for the last mile.
BIKE! We biked 3 miles around Waikiki park and zoo.
SWIM! We swam to the lifeguard tower and back.

Then we collapsed with triumph!


Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Hawaiian Running buds


Abs and I went for a run yesterday, then we jumped in the Pacific to cool down, swam about 300 yards. I've been really enjoying Waikiki so far, the water is so warm and calm I love swimming in it. I'm surprised by how many Japanese tourists and high-end fashion stores there are. I think my favorite part is the daily rainbows. I really understand why triathlons are so hip here, because every time you go for a run, you end up so hot and sweaty the only thing you want to do is cool off with a swim!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Update: We have power! (and enjoyed a beautiful hike)


Hip hip hooray for the power being restored this morning while we were on our hike of Manoa Falls. The waterfall at the end made the hike through the rain worth it. Coming back to power being restored was even more awesome!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Update: all of Oahu is blacked out

Waikiki, Obama compound everything. Please update me with
information--- 800,000+ folks have no power... How come no news?
Thanks guys- my family is good, we have several candles...
Sent from my iPhone
-Julia

Hawaii blackout

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas on Diamond Head


This shot pretty much sums up my Christmas this year!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Mele Kalikimaka!

I made it to Hawaii! Busy afternoon, toured the Bishop Museum after getting off the plane, then went for a nice easy run with my Dad along the canal and beach (amazingly warm weather), and then we all went to the Honolulu Lights which had some really cool Christmas light displays such as the one below. Man I'm wiped out, surfs up in the AM!!!

Christmas Eve morning at SFO

Good thing I got here 2.5 hours early....

Addendum: Luckily it only took me 40 minutes to get through the check-in and security, AND they didn't ask me to open any of my wrapped presents! Impressive SFO.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't want to jump the gun on holidays here, but starting January 1st I will start my quest to blog every day in the year 2009.*

I think it's a worthy goal, I want to write my thoughts more regularly, keep people posted on my antics and adventures, so I'm diving in. I actually think it's harder to blog when I do it less then several times a week, I have a high activation energy for writing a blog entry after iIve fallen off the horse for more than a week.

Recently I've been reflecting on what other significant resolutions I would like to make for 2009, any suggestions before 1/1/2009 will be taken into consideration.

*For those of you on my direct email list, I can take you off if this gets really annoying...

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Home for the holidays

I must say, Hawaii and home just don't seem right, but I'm totally game for it!!!! I am completely looking forward to landing in Hawaii tomorrow afternoon, 75 degree weather, Obama right next store, Christmas the next day. Could I be any more lucky? I'm hoping to explore the island, see the big waves of the North Shore, and go nuts hiking. Stay tuned and in case I am incommunicado these next two days, Merry merry christmas!!!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Baking baking baking

I've discovered two things about my baking skills that I thought I would share..

1. I can make fudge! Tasty, moist, yummy fudge that gives you a delightful tummy ache when you eat too much!!!

2. Sugar cookies are a great idea in theory, but the dedication and resilience required to see them through is just too much effort in my opinion for the lack of taste they offer. Perhaps the worst thing about sugar cookies is they require icing, which I do not have the patience to deal with after cutting out and cooking dozens and dozens of sugar cookies.

Pictures to come soon (hopefully)...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Family time!

I drove up to Santa Rosa for Stephie and Scott's 1st Christmas party as newlyweds. Their house is so awesome, I especially enjoyed seeing all the art pieces they picked up on their trip around the world (wow!). It was really awesome hanging out with Grandad, Laurie, and Nicole as well. Nicole made it around 11pm -after a 20 mile run in San Diego and the 10 hour roadtrip! I realized too that now my kayak can be put to good use-Nicole is going to use it in La Jolla, and whenever I visit I'll be able to go kayaking with her which I'm stoked about.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Going shopping!

After my trip back east, I managed to spend a day in southern California while my mom and sister were visiting. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's early Christmas presents, we spent the morning shopping at Main Place.

Here we are in the parking lot...we jumped the gun a bit, the mall didn't open until 10am but we got there by 9:45...The two brightly colored pashminas are courtesy of my trip to NYC, I picked them up from a street vendor in New York City for $5 each!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

SoL

Soooo, how did I end up seeing the statue of liberty you ask? Well, remember I'm applying to medical school this year-I was so incredibly fortunate to have 2 medical school interviews on the east coast, BU and VCU, and I decided since its such a long plane ride anyways that I would visit some good friends in NYC as well, and honestly, why not see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island? It was awesome! Remarkably I was able to find the record of my Great Grandmother, Norah McDonnell Kilroy at Ellis Island, making the tour that much more special.

Times Square

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Me in a suit

Just finished my interview at VCU. Everyone in Richmond is so hospitable, I really enjoyed my time here. Now I get a breather, no more interviews until 2009!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

I will be a positive deviant!

In the spirit of positive deviation from the mean (Positive deviant = my new favorite term and my life aspiration), here are my notes on how I do against Atul Gawande’s advice for becoming a positive deviant

1. Unscripted question –I admit, I get stuck on the old “How are you”. So from now on, I’m going to make a pointed effort to ask people (if I don’t know) where they grew up. CPRS has really helped me to bring my questioning down the ladder of inference at least!

2. Don’t complain –ah this is one of my favorites. I HATE it when people complain; I do think there is a difference between productive and unproductive complaining. Complaining and doing something about it =acceptable.
Just complaining = not acceptable.

3. Count something –Atul is my long-lost twin. What don’t I count? I have recorded every single one of my runs since January 1 of this year, where I run, what time of the day I run, the total distance, and the total time. At work, I count the total number of patients I’ve supported via Consultation Planning and Recording (without looking at my notes, I know its around 60). For BCT.org, I record weekly tallies of how many trials are being coded and how many I still have to work on. As track captain I spent more hours then I am willing to admit counting and recounting in what ways we could place at Heps or beat Yale. I’ve even started recording the time of day I wake up and go to bed to see if my sleep cycles mess up my energy or mood. Ok, maybe I overdo the counting sometimes….

4. Write something –duh why do you think this blog exists?

5. Be an early adopter –I pride myself on this one, here is a list of things I’ve been an early adopter for among my own ‘society’ (i.e., people I know: my family, friends or peer group):

• BLOGGING - writing blogs, reading blogs, commenting on blogs, getting others to write blogs, health care blogs, patient-advocate blogs, political blogs, PCT hike blogs, athletic blogs (In case you didn’t know, I think blogs are the best thing since sliced bread)
• Shutterfly.com photo sharesite
• Geni.com –cool family social networking website
• Using interpreters during CPRS for those who do not speak/understand English
• Nikeplus band (thus my ability to record all the details about my runs)
• Iphone –life changing, democratizing awesomeness
• OBAMAMANIA –April 7th 2007 is when I donated $5 and urged my family to do the same to support Barack Obama’s campaign.
• Photobooks –so cheap, so small, so easy
• Self-publishing (lulu.com) –shout out to Lilly Zhang and her newly published children's book that you can buy on amazon.com
• Working at the UCSF Center of Excellence in Breast Cancer Care –everything at my job is on the forefront of medical care for women with breast cancer thanks to Laura Esserman and the incredible team she has built. Can you tell I love my job?
• Composting –props to my roommates Jaline and Andrea for this one
• Bartering –babysitting for garage space = sweet deal
• In the future: Health informatics –I will be a strong advocate of web-based medical systems as a clinician

In the spirit of change and becoming a positive deviant –do you have an experience in which you were an early adopter? Please use the comments section of this post to tell me about it!

MUST READ: Better, by Atul Gawande

I just finished Atul’s 2nd book, Better. It was excellent, the best-written and insightful book I’ve read in a long time. He centered his stories and discussion on the idea of improvement in medicine –not in terms of new treatments or technologies for disease, but in terms of improving the very systems within which clinicians operate. Every aspiring physician should read this book. His enthusiasm for understanding case studies of when certain physicians were able to make incredible tangible, measurable changes in patient care and outcomes with minor costs is awesome. It really does come down to mindset, and at the final pages, he outlines what he thinks are the most invaluable traits in people, certainly doctors, who are looking to improve outcomes for those they care for, and I will re-iterate them here for everyone, the keys to becoming a positive deviant:

1. Ask an unscripted question
2. Don’t complain
3. Count something
4. Write something
5. Change (Be an early adopter)