Quote of the Day

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”-Jane Goodall

Happy Birthday To Me!

Love this quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.

Quote of the Day

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."Albert Schweitzer

I've taken the last 3 weeks "off" from clerkships, spending time talking to attendings, mentors, friends, family about life, career, perspectives. It's been nothing short of awesome. So rarely we remember to take the time to do so, to ask the important questions, to ask those we respect and value their opinions and views. Something that hopefully you don't need time "off" to do. I thank everyone for helping rejuvenate and rekindle my spirit!

Quote of the Day: Believe

"Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself." 

John Bingham

Happy Earth Day

In an attempt to enjoy the outdoors on earth day, I drove to the beach. It's 80 degrees, picture perfect at Stanford today, but once arrived at said beach, it was cold, howling winds, no sun in sight. That's northern california beaches for you. I'll never be fooled again!

A quote from John Muir, the consummate naturalist, to honor Earth Day 2012:

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools"

Quote of the day

While I was doing a neurologic exam on a cute 4th grade boy, I asked him to smile, he smiled cutely. Then I asked him to make a mean face.

Response: "But I don't like to make mean faces!"

You can't get more adorable and lovable then that!

Affordable Care Act

Quite a few folks have asked my opinion on the Affordable Care Act. My bottom line on health care: providing health care for citizens is a fundamental component of a fair and just society. On a daily basis I am horrified at the disparities in care and outcomes I witness.

The details of how we provide universal health care for citizens of the United States are just that, details.  I agree 100% with Ted Kennedy's philosophy:

"...Quality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to." 

Ted Kennedy

Happy New Year!

Finished reading 50/50 by Dean Karnazes, I liked this quote he found by Darwin: " It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change"

Something to keep in mind as we make our resolutions for 2012!

Quote of the Day

"You've got some wheels!"

-Random dude at the track yesterday as I was running my 200m intervals. 

Quote of the Day

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

Aristotle

2000 Mark!

I finished the USMLE World Qbank on Friday afternoon. That's over 2000 questions under my belt! I was very pleased with my NBME practice exam score today-2 weeks to go to keep working on my weaknesses. Being methodical and holding myself accountable really feels good after a while. Let's hope the test gods agree come May 18th..

This weekend was gorgeous in DC, after a fun baseball game Friday night, I enjoyed a wonderful 9 mile run along the Crescent Trail Saturday morning. One of the benefits of having a schedule completely determined by me is that I choose to exercise a lot! I spent Saturday outside all day, with a few hours of lazy studying in the sunshine along the river in Georgetown. On Sunday we explored Eastern Market and walked around the National Mall. I know what you're thinking: "Aren't you supposed to be studying all the time? Isn't this like the most important test ever?!" I've had important tests in the past, and I'll have more in the future, but I'll never stop living my life as fully as I wish, no matter what "super important" thing is on my plate. If I don't enjoy each and every day now, when will I? Now back to learning!

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

Theodore Roosevelt

Quote of the Day

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

Thomas Edison

Inspiring words from Marie Curie

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

Marie Curie


Preparing for this test is a beast, so I find much inspiration in optimistic words spoken by Marie Curie, the first female professor at the University of Paris and the first person to win 2 Nobel Prizes.

Good advice

Perfection is the enemy of the good.

Quote of the Day

"To relentlessly force the tender wisdom, thoughtful reflection, and perceptive honesty of the human heart to conform to the ridiculously impossible, inhuman speed of the world, its effortlessly generated images and mind-driven technologies, is to do violence to our most precious, valuable treasure: the necessary guidance of the human heart. Without it, we may get more and more done, and push ever faster through the gauntlet of our to do list, but we may never, in the end, catch up to anything."

Quote of the Day

"...Instead of being the currency of a social justice or conscience-driven movement, "human rights" has increasingly become the specialized language of a select professional cadre with its own rites of passage and methods of certification. Far from being a badge of honor, human rights activism is, in some places I have observed it, increasingly a certificate of privilege."

-A quotation from Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, in the opening of Pathologies of Power, a book by Paul Farmer

Quote of the Day

"Thought is the strongest thing we have. Work done by true and profound thought -that is the real force" -Albert Schweitzer

Thought of the day

Never worry alone. 

~Jim Conway as relayed to me by Dr. Welton

Quote of the Day

"To each one of you the practice of medicine will be very much as you make it- to one a worry, a care, a perpetual annoyance; to another, a daily joy and a life of as much happiness and usefullness as can well fall to the lot of man"

-William Osler

Quote of the Day

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.  

John Muir