patch adam perryman

Where I've been.

2008-02-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Somewhere among the many sites for Senator Obama's Presidential Campaign, the Democrat's National, State, County and local groups, I lost my way for blogging regularly on this site.

Though I would enjoy the chance to maintain more of this writing style, a passive block of thought packaged into a box of insight, I think it's high time for me to create my own site and get the theme, styles and adware going.

It is due time for Patch to make a website of his own.

And so, over the next two months, I will be using this site as a practice forum for the new one. Logos will be trialled, posts will be edited and email comments will be welcomed.

More to come.

Guitar Hero.

2007-10-07T03:31:00.001-07:00

Wished I heard of this amazing guitarist when I was much younger. Best to enjoy him from here on out.

And for those of you whom, like me knew not of Rory Gallagher...

Enjoy.

Coming Attractions.

2007-10-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

In the coming month I shall be reworking this blog into a full-fledge webpage for the sole purpose of maintaining contact with friends, family and future "interested parties" regarding my undertakings in Portland, Oregon.

The blog format will remain, but I hope to add photo updates, a listing of current and past reading materials, photos taken while meandering the city, and other items that catch my senses.

One of the things I've never fully enjoyed about web logs is the "business" of them. Ergo, I plan to keep the side lines thin, the log entries to two main entries (most recent and last) and to have the archives as searchable and easily-accessable.

My friends, these last months of reflection have caused inspiration to hit me harder than a prizefighter's uppercut. The bell will ring soon.

Journey's Start.

2007-02-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Today, we start the work. Join me and others as we look to elect Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) the 44th President of the United States of America in November of 2008.

Full Text of Senator Barack Obama's Announcement for President
Springfield, IL February 10, 2007

Let me begin by saying thanks to all you who've traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today.

We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union.

That's the journey we're on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, I am not a native of this great state. I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man then, just a year out of college; I knew no one in Chicago, was without money or family connections. But a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. And I accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea - that I might play a small part in building a better America.

My work took me to some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren't simply local in nature - that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there's a hole in his heart no government could ever fill.

It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.

After three years of this work, I went to law school, because I wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. I became a civil rights lawyer, and taught constitutional law, and after a time, I came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. It was with these ideas in mind that I arrived in this capital city as a state Senator.

It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge - farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. I made lasting friendships here - friends that I see in the audience today.

It was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable - that it's possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we're willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst.

That's why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. That's why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. That's why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that's why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.

It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people - where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.

And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.

I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.

That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people - as Americans.

All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years.

What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

For the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don't matter, we've been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.

And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what's filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page.

We've made some progress already. I was proud to help lead the fight in Congress that led to the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.

But Washington has a long way to go. And it won't be easy. That's why we'll have to set priorities. We'll have to make hard choices. And although government will play a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, more money and programs alone will not get us where we need to go. Each of us, in our own lives, will have to accept responsibility - for instilling an ethic of achievement in our children, for adapting to a more competitive economy, for strengthening our communities, and sharing some measure of sacrifice. So let us begin. Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation.

Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.

And as our economy changes, let's be the generation that ensures our nation's workers are sharing in our prosperity. Let's protect the hard-earned benefits their companies have promised. Let's make it possible for hardworking Americans to save for retirement. And let's allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country's middle-class again.

Let's be the generation that ends poverty in America. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job training that leads to a job, and earn a living wage that can pay the bills, and afford child care so their kids have a safe place to go when they work. Let's do this.

Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let's be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president's first term.

Let's be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil. We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for businesses that will serve as a model for the world. Let's be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here.

Most of all, let's be the generation that never forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we've got. Politics doesn't have to divide us on this anymore - we can work together to keep our country safe. I've worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some of the world's deadliest, unguarded weapons. We can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities. But let us also understand that ultimate victory against our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the globe.

But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq. Most of you know I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken, and the young lives that could have been. America, it's time to start bringing our troops home. It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war. That's why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008. Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.

Finally, there is one other thing that is not too late to get right about this war - and that is the homecoming of the men and women - our veterans - who have sacrificed the most. Let us honor their valor by providing the care they need and rebuilding the military they love. Let us be the generation that begins this work.

I know there are those who don't believe we can do all these things. I understand the skepticism. After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering ten-point plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.

That is why this campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.

By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail.

But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible.

He tells us that there is power in words.

He tells us that there is power in conviction.

That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.

He tells us that there is power in hope.

As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."

That is our purpose here today.

That's why I'm in this race.

Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.

I want to win that next battle - for justice and opportunity.

I want to win that next battle - for better schools, and better jobs, and health care for all.

I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.

And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.

Simple Wishing.

2007-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

The trip home may actually take place. If only I can get the time off. More on this to come, for tonight I work and learn and teach.
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Figure #6: Percy Julian

Tonight, on NOVA, there will be a portayal of this extraordinary man, who was shunned by the white-majority scientific community during segregation only because of his skin color. His contributions to physical and natural chemistry are unprecidented and for this he must never be forgotten.

Lazy Sunday: Part 28

2007-02-04T00:51:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite meals is sushi. Octopus and Salmon eggs. Yummy!

Sheer Indiference.

2007-02-02T04:48:00.000-08:00

From where did Groundhog's Day come? Amazing how a furry little animal can have such an influence on people. Well, this morning, Punxsutawney Phil has come out of his home and therefore predicts a shortlived Winter. His Canadian counterpart in Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam had determined the same thing only an hour or two prior. Those Canadians, always one time zone ahead of the U.S.

Now that this is settled, I'm going back to bed so I can try and ignore this again tomorrow.

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Figure #2: Benjamin Banneker

Mr. Banneker was a mathematician, astronomer and surveyor 9 Novemeber 1731 in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland. He has been called the first African-American intellectual. A self-taught man, he learned astronomy well enough to correctly predict a solar eclipse in 1789. From 1791 to 1802 he published several alamacs in which tide tables, future eclipses, and medicinal formulae had been detailed by him. It is believed to be the first scientific book published by an African American. Also a surveyor and mathematician, Banneker was appointed by President George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission, which was responsible for the survey work that established the city's original boundaries. When the chairman of the committee, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, suddenly resigned and left, taking the plans with him, Banneker reproduced the plans from memory, saving valuable time. A staunch opponent of slavery, Banneker sent a copy of his first almanac to then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, in counterargument to Jefferson's belief in the intellectual inferiority of blacks.

28 Figures.

2007-02-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

There's an old joke scoffing February as being Black History Month: It's the shortest month of the year. The way I see it is that it makes the centuries of black history all the more compact, not dimunitive. Subjects like Jazz music, Civil rights, Southern slave conscription into the Union Army, scientific discovery, athletic achievment, are towering momuments that should be thought of on every day this month.

And so I shall do so myself by writing and linking to one prominent Black contibutor to history every day for this entire month. Each day, even on my Lazy Sundays, I will write a short clip on one Black man, woman or group who contirubuted to human history in ways that benefited not just Africans or African-Americans, but human beings as a whole. For that is whom we are: human beings. Enjoy the month's writings.

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Figure #1: Muhammad Ali

Perhaps one of the most prominent living legends in Black history is Muhammad Ali. The former Heavyweight Champion of the World once said that, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." He refused to enter the military and fight in Vietnam on the basis that to do so was against his religious belief. Ali fought the strongest of men and reagined his title. He has fought most all of his life and that includes his current battle with Parkinson's Disease. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Muhammad Ali, "The Greatest", he was, is and always be a fighter.

Lazy Sunday: Part 27

2007-01-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

We bought some old seats for the living room yesterday. They were theater seats from the 1950s. Very comfortable.

Ill.

2007-01-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

As of late, my postings have been on the low side of up. Despite a majority in the Congress, I have written about the pathos of the new minority party. My lametations of the White House and Iraq confict have been the stuff of disgust and defeatism. Now I find myself with a sinus infection and time on my hands. It is time to write about positive topics.

State of Disunion.

2007-01-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

This statement alone is more than just a Texan's drawl or Blue Collar play on words. The President's State of the Union Address last evening continues to show that no matter whom advises him, how closely he listens, or how often his aides and cabinet members are caught in sound bites lying or obfuscating the situation or strategy on the Iraq invasion, The president’s course of action amounts to placing more men and women of the U.S. Military into harm's way.

Try a quote today by Vice President, Dick Cheney, quoted on CNN yesterday, discussing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s approval of a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"It won’t stop us." - Vice President, Dick Cheney

No movement. No sympathy. No gravity given for ideas or arguments save those few who would offer none in opposition.

Why be so stubborn in the face of such opposition? And the argument for this is that "failure would be catastrophic." Is it just me or does this not sound exactly like the uncompromising tirades made by those leading the insurgency forces and death squads in Iraq?

My only question, the only one I have is this: What specifically is victory for everyone, Mr. President? Is it a tangible object? Is it an ideal that cannot be measured except by those who know it for the first time? Is victory the creation of a way of life for a group people that have never known it and will find adaptation to be as trying as anything imagined?

I support my country and countrymen here and abroad. My education and national thinking forbids me to simply accept matters as they are and continue without thinking for myself. My faith and nature demand I consider more than myself in most all matters of life and liberty.

We are keenly aware of what you and your administration considers winning. What is victory for all people, Mr. President? The terrorists win when those who follow one person's path convince everyone else that there is no other path to take.

Core Energy.

2007-01-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

Overlooked for centuries as a viable source of natural energy, a recent MIT study offers the potential of geothermal energy to be, "a key energy provider in the United States". Geothermal energy involves the trapping of heat and steam released by fissures in the plant's crust to drive turbines and create energy. The study agrees that although there are great benefits to the use of geothermal energy (including minute atmospheric and environmental impact) there are also seismic and geophysical risks that have not been fullly assessed.

Many groups, such as The Geothermal Resources Council, have touted the wide-spread use of geothermal energy in the past but to little fortune. Perhaps this MIT study will get the direct attention of those groups looking for ways to stem the growing problem of greenhouse gas and carbon emissions. Thanks, Earth.

On This Day...: 22 January

2007-01-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I get curious as to what a "normal" day like today held as important in the past. I belive that I'll start a new category today that will run once a month for those days that are particularly interesting.

For this day three particularly interesting events happened in the year 1973:

- The Supreme Court handed down its Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion. The decision overrulled state laws that prohibited or restricted a woman's right to obtain an abortion during her first three months of pregnancy. The vote was 7 to 2.

- The 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), died at age 64 of a heart attack (his third) at home on his ranch in Texas. His health was ruined by years of heavy smoking and stress, and the former President had severe heart disease. He was found in his bed, reaching for his phone.

- "Big George" Foreman faced world Heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, knocking him down no less than six times in two rounds and knocking him out in the second round in one of boxing history's biggest upsets to become the Heavyweight World Champion. In what was HBO Boxing's first transmission ever, the call made by Howard Cosell, the broadcaster that night ("Down goes Frazier!, Down goes Frazier!, Down goes Frazier!") became one of the most memorable sports calls of all time.

Lazy Sunday: Part 26

2007-01-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

I found another horse on the sidewalk of Portland's Clinton Area yesterday morning.
Want the story?

730 Remain.

2007-01-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

This is the number of days our current President will remain in office. In exactly two years from today's date, President George W. Bush, Jr. will exit the White House and a new President will be sworn in. Who will it be?

This week, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois announced the opening of his exploratory committee. Today, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York did the same. At this time the focus begins fully on who's to stand before the American people on 20 January 2009, right hand raised and left upon the Bible. The swearing in ceremony as U.S. President seems so solemn a moment that we should all be thankful for its lulling effect after the months of mudslinging, name-calling, media-overexposure, strength posturing, attack ads and muckraking that the voting public have come to expect of multi-million dollar political campaigns.

The time is running short for some, and shorter for most others.

In Laws.

2007-01-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

Lisa's father and sister arrived in town this Monday. Their intention was to head down to Ashland so Wren could check out Southern Oregon University. It would be a wonderful opprotunity to have her closer to her sister and bother in Port Orford. Here's to a good trip!

Keep Your Enemies Closer.

2007-01-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

Today I'm working on a part of my surgical diary. Here is an excerpt for your reading enjoyment:

The idea that you can trust your closest advisors is both an old and new idea. Trust is formed over time and patiently molded after events specify the comings and goings of certain individuals. Such is the manner of thinking in many professional arenas. In politics, social circles or clubs, and our places of employment, there are those who care more deeply for making the moves and telling the tales they think best to move into positions of authority. The consequences for engaging in such activity may be easy to understand, but to gain the understanding as to why this is viewed as important may not be so clear. Such is true in the surgical environment.

Obviously there are many more people involved than just the surgeons, nurses and scrubs. However, by starting to look at the motivations of these three professionals in general can provide a base for how convoluted a procedure can become when egos flare.
Surgeons have families to support, clinic patients to see for pre-operative screenings, consultations from other physicians to complete, insurance forms to fill out for payment needs, employees (like secretaries, nurses and physician assistants) to consider and pay. Typically a surgeon will schedule two to three days a week where they will spend the entire day in the operating room after a brief run through the clinic to give instructions to a colleague who will spend their day seeing the patients that arrive there during the day. The operating surgeon is as good as out of touch, yet we have telephones, cell phones, pagers and other modern communication devices now don't we? So the surgeon is never truly out of touch when trouble or questions arise. During a procedure the surgeon can be interrupted on a regular basis by the beep of a pager or the ringing of a LAN or cell phone.
Distractions during a case are one of the fastest ways to send the surgeon's attention away from the patient's needs and place that focus onto less vital thoughts. Given the importance of the activities in the operating room and the lack of time, surgeons will find ways to get past the distraction in as efficient a way as possible. Unfortunately, one of the fastest ways known to get past a difficult situation has been known by psychologists for decades, and is utilized by many in business, political and medical fields with unfortunate results: Blame someone in the room for causing the distraction.

This isn't a fair act, and there's no logical meaning behind it. What's most important about the surgeon's blame-game is that the response to the assigning of blame is directly related and the outcome, which is typically the same every time. Those that take the blame personally become afraid to work with that surgeon and cause further trouble in future cases. Their concern for avoiding the surgeon's wrath becomes the overriding concern, instead of getting the patient's procedure completed. The O.R. personnel that take the berating at face-value, and concentrate on the reasons for the flare up, they will become motivated to correct the cause and prevent a repetition of such distractions. The Japanese have a saying that fits this idea perfectly: “Fix the problem, not the blame”.

After all, time spent in the operating room means a lot more than just spending it all on getting the procedure performed correctly so the patient is safe and healthy. Managing the time in an O.R. is the organization of a living patient’s safety, the lives of that one person and all those in the room, the next patient’s need after this procedure is completed, preparation for all the cases in the day, trauma cases that can arise at anytime and for any reason, while considering the personal and familial needs of the workers and patients alike. Surgery is an arena of consequence will of players with egos so large, you could detect them on radar.

Five Minutes.

2007-01-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

At times, scheduled surgical cases can be placed on hold due to weather, staffing issues or a wide array of concerns including patient difficulties. While taking an extended break today, patiently awaiting a patient to arrive for their procedure, I read up on the recent developments in the news. A news story today by the 62-year-old atomic bomb watchdog organization Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists pushed their Doomsday Clock (a representive clock that strikes midnight at the time of nuclear proliferation and war) two minutes closer to the witching hour. The organization stated that there are five minutes left until midnight due to the standoff and tensions rising with weapon seeking nations Iran and North Korea as well as the effects that human beings are having on the globe through carbon emissions and climate change. Renouned astrophysist, mathematician and author Professor Steven Hawking, a member of the bulletin's board of sponsors, released a statement of his views on why the clock's move was considered so grave.

"As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on earth."

A timeline of the clock's movement forward and backward from midnight can be found here.

OH-Bama!

2007-01-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

The first real sign of the upcoming move for the Democratic party, Illinois Senator and political it-boy Barack Obama announced the opening of his exploratory committee. Showing his interest in seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. President

In a released statement on his website, Senator Obama writes:

"I'll be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee. For the next several weeks, I am going to talk with people from around the country, listening and learning more about the challenges we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together. And on February 10th, at the end of these decisions and in my home state of Illinois, I'll share my plans with my friends, neighbors and fellow Americans."

Some will hearld this as the greatest or weakest move a two-term Senator could make. The cat-calling of newbie, spoiler and inexperienced will be played out for the next twenty months.

Having read about the Senator since first hearing of his work in early 2003 while working the early with the ODP on Kerry's 2004 Presidential Campaign, I've been eager for this announcement. He's got my vote, friends. He's the real deal.

His Voice, Clear.

2007-01-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Now most everyone will be more content enjoying a day off from work or from school, for this is a part of the very thing I believe Dr. King would have had wanted the people of this nation to remember him for: to have a day for reflection and contemplation of our way of life. The other part is to consider how we are living with one another in this nation, and this is what I believe Dr. King would not approve were he able to see us on this day.

Most all of us find ourselves trapped both by routine and ingratiation. More content with Starbucks than stargazing, internets than interconnections and giving up than giving out. Our modernity has afforded even the poorest of people great manners of living that include luxuries once only possessed by the affluent. This inheritance has come to be slowly distributed over a short time. Connected to it, to those keen on not simply accepting endowments without questioning their origin or purpose, is a social ideal crafted from generations of philosophic debate. This principle is now widely accepted and easily overlooked by the majority of today’s generation: the practice desegregation.

This ideal has been worked for by generations of tolerant and optimistic folk and it is one that remains a common ground for rigorous debate between those in the lesser claiming its lunacy and those in the greater proclaiming its wisdom. I consider myself to be one whom agrees with Dr. King’s vision and “see not the color of a man’s skin but the color of his character”. This is not a new revolution but one I wish to proclaim more openly today given the gravity of day and those to come. As our nation props its collective feet upon the footstool of this holiday, consider the shoes worn by so many before us. Their street marches, protestations, stampings for justice and equality were carried upon those common shoes. They provided the footholds for today’s relaxation and comforts. Today remember the words of this man who did not look for notoriety for the sake of notoriety but for the sake of noteworthy beliefs that all whom are, have been and will be equal by the one commonality that matters: alive.

Lazy Sunday: Part 25

2007-01-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

Most everyone will be talking on the importance of remembering the life and work of Dr. King tomorrow. I cannot think of a reason not to think of such work every day, but will offer these next two entries dedicated exclusively to the late Civil Rights leader who would have turned 78 years old tomorrow.

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.
© Bob Adelman / Magnum Photos

Omega Woman.

2007-01-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

While my wife attended a mandatory education day at the hospital (something that medical professionals loathe as obligatory), I took the time to watch a matinee. Not having known more than the premise of Children of Men, where, in the near future, humanity has been paralyzed with global infertility and by this has degenerated to cataclysmic strife, I decided to go in quasi-blind. Now I've considered myself a fan of dystopian philosophy for many years, having read my fair share of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Alan Moore to name a few. Because of this I initially found the film’s setting of London was a fine choice.

This location removed questions as to how the authoritarian government came to be in charge by ordering the ruthless deportation of all non-British persons and wasn’t seeking democratic voices from the people, nor tolerating lengthy debates as to a course of action. This was a Thatcher-based, “down-with-terrorism” dictatorship. People are publicly caged en masse awaiting transportation to concentration-style camps for shipping to points-of-origin. All are separated from the general public by lines of SWAT police with automatic rifles, guard dogs and a foreboding sense of veracity. Then there is the general public who simply “don’t care.”

Scenes in which the hero, a Government drone named Theo seamlessly played by Clive Owen, reflects this despair, the same all Britons carry. Even after surviving the bombing of a café from which he’d only just bought a cup of coffee, his indifference toward the decay of society shows in his unshaven face, rumpled shirt and the resignation stamped upon his face.

This has never been a thought I’d considered. Taking for granted the ability of humanity to procreate. After working on Labor & Delivery for the past four years, I’ve come to regard birth as the most stable job in the medical profession. Then specific scenes in the film hit me with the gravity of what I’ve overlooked. The image of an elementary school, dilapidated and strewn with graffiti, made me shutter to think of all the teachers no longer instilling new ideas to the next generation because there was no generation to follow. The tale related by a midwife character’s as she realizes the coming crisis after several of her and her colleagues’ expectant mothers miscarry more often and at earlier stages of their pregnancies. This made me pause, reconsidering the one job in medicine that seemed most stable as suddenly pointless. Then the one aspect of the film that made me cringe: there were no sounds of children playing or babies crying. Even the imagery lacked a child’s imagination and was replaced with drab and perfunctory style as only adults can muster.

This movie bombarded me with themes lambasting the acceptance of routines, hopelessness, narcissism and apathy. The film's director, Alfonso Cuarón who directed the sinister-styled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, seemed to be enjoying the chaos of the genre and in the setting he created on screen. Amongst the droves of terrorists, police and vigilantes with guns and bombs, Owens' hero escapes blind madness without carrying a weapon aside from his newfound hope in seeing the expectant mother of Earth's first child in eighteen years to safety outside of the UK. Cuarón's directing allows him to take subtle, enjoyable liberties with inserts of other dystopian themes (train monitors & billboards with 1984-like authoritarian messages to the masses, an inflated pig-balloon over the Battersea Power Station on the River Themes via Pink Floyd's: The Wall and another Orwellian theme from Animal Farm). With the battering of so many messages, the culmination of these comes during the birth scene. Like the rest of the film, this is Christ story of the Old Testament told in the antithesis that the rest of the film carries. By lantern, the whiskey-soaked and tremulous hands of Owen's character coaches the scared-shitless mother through her contractions on a stained mattress in a dilapidated hotel among the UK zone of refugees bound for deportation. The entire scene is fitting to both the beginning and end of humanity.

Even when the realization that a newborn has come, the miraculous moment of peace that crops up amongst two militaristic fronts is ruined with explosive consequence and the realization that even when hope arrives someone will fight to claim it as their property. There is little hope for mankind as this film ends. Despite the proof that procreation is still possible, I was left to believe that where biology can succeed, society will continue to overlook the obvious causes of misunderstanding.

Welcome Back, Carter?

2007-01-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, fourteen employees of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's 25 year-old foundation, The Carter Center, resigned in protestation of his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid as being unfavorable toward Israeli plights. This action was detailed in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article yesterday.

Is this mass-resignation a wake-up call for all of those having trouble with the former President's written stance to recognize the West Bank or Gaza Strip as a Palestinian State? Or is this act chutzpah specifically toward one man and anyone else who may come to think that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an argument fraught with too many idiosyncrasies to trust the current administration to undertake? One thing’s for certain, Carter’s book and personal appearances mark the push for newfound popularity and revulsion by those most mindful of the unrest in the Middle Eastern region. Timing is crucial in negotiations and Jimmy’s hit the punchclock right on the nose.

Commiseration.

2007-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

Small talk between doctors, nurses and other staff is a common occurrence in surgery to keep the gravity of what transpires during procedures from overwhelming them. Patients are usually under anesthetic agents during these colloquial moments which rarely involve the patient at all. Today one of the surgeons came up with a pithy idea. He mentioned the idea that it's easy to take the wind out of a critic's sails by declaring a preemptive self-derogatory remark. His thinking is that when anyone is looking to negatively criticize your actions or thinking put yourself down first and lessen the blow. After all, if you announce your awareness that improvements can be made, most any further comments would come across as redundant.

As President Bush unveiled his renewed strategy as to the conflict in Iraq (a long awaited response after the release of the Hamilton-Baker lead Iraq Study Group report) I was reminded of the surgeon’s comments. The main word or “preemptive” was lacking in the blame President Bush assigned to himself in tonight’s address:

"The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me"
-President G. W. Bush.

Despite admitting that a build-up of troops over a year ago would have been a better strategy, it is clear that tonight’s admission is too late for any kind of redemption. His speech was not full of surprises, thanks to the vastly integrated media and internet pundits given ample time to chew over the Report and speak to White House insiders.

In short, tonight the President made no converts and that increasing the U.S. troop deployment by 21,500 will do little to solve anything that is, has been or ever will be going wrong since the March 2003 invasion. What’s missing from the concept of self-degradation is the idea that timing is the crucial component in receiving the sympathetic ear while preventing stares of disappointment.

In the Year 2029...

2007-01-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve in 2004, astronomers came to the realization that a near-Earth Asteroid named 99942 or Apophis (after the Egyptian God of darkness and chaos) will pass by the planet within just under 20,000 miles (give or take 2,000). Recommended reading of the odds on chances of Apophis' impact with the Earth would include a listing of the history of estimates compiled on wikipedia. It's a short distance to be sure, especially in the scope of Earth-bound travel. Universally speaking: a brush-by.

Why do I bring this up today? It's all because of this: An MSNBC article in the Men's Lifestyle section two years after the fact blowing the idea that impact is possible into "unlucky" by twisting the facts. Because this article was placed on the front of MSNBC before checking my email, it received immediate notice by myself and, presumably, a vast number of other readers or hotmail/MSN email account holders.

On the eve of President Bush's address concerning the suspected increase in troops to Iraq, the growing concern over imbalance in the Middle East and North Korea, and the troubles in the homeland I am left to wonder if MSNBC is trying to put things into perspective that it'll all be folly when 99942 wipes out 75% of life on the planet come one Friday the 13th over 22 years from now. A bleak look at the goings-on, hotmail; and I thought I was looking on the dark humor of daily American life.

Clango's Spotlight.

2007-01-08T05:06:00.000-08:00

Today is the official starting run for Diesel Sweeties in newspapers across the Nation. After drawing the comic for over six years, Richard Stevens gets his break in the funny-papers.

Good luck, my friend!

Lazy Sunday: Part 24

2007-01-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here's how I started my day.

The New Yorker, Stumptown Coffee, and a rainy Belmont Street.

NANI??!?!?

2007-01-06T08:52:00.000-08:00

While Lisa slept today I enjoyed a day to myself with breakfast at Henry’s Cafe on Clinton Street. My thoughts turned slightly political while sitting there, sipping coffee, eating a salmon omelet and reading The New Yorker. How funny and deliciously poignant to open a "Senator Barack Obama for President HQ" on 26th and Clinton Street? If he runs, I think it's a smart move. Imagine the Portland stickers that could be made: Live on Clinton/Vote for Obama (15/14) Slightly larger print for Obama's and split the color scheme: a light-blue top with Clinton, a darker-blue bottom with Obama, and both with white lettering.
Like this:After thinking this through a bit, I looked up to see what was playing at the Clinton Street Theater. Low an behold, one of my favorites, SANJIRO, was to be shown that evening at 1900 and 2100 hours. Toshiro Mifune as "The Samurai with No Name" reprised from the movie Yojimbo in a small theatre attached to a brewpub. The evening was not just set, it was solid!

Return to Surgery.

2007-01-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

After an unprecedented four days off from work in the operating room, I returned today to a short list of scheduled cases and a lot of happy-to-be-back coworkers. I suspected that the sour looks many of them had stapled upon their faces hid some kind of appreciation for the job they actually did. After all, it's not just anyone that gets to go in and perform surgery. Even the most disgruntled worker has some iota of respect for that.

It's an all new world in there. The real struggles though have little to do with life and death. They are battles with yourself and how others interact with you. Cliques and pairings are only some of the similarities between the O.R. workplace and any other institution, but the egotism and placating that can be found in surgery makes Grey's Anatomy look like Sunday School.

So what approach would I suggest? Only this: nosce te ipsum. "Know thyself", and be true.

It's the precursor to a long life in surgery work. Once you fall into a crowd you could find yourself marked as one type or another, intentionally or not.

In surgery being yourself is always the best option since the people you will work with are so detail oriented, so astute, that they will ascertain the truth about you without your being aware of ever suggesting it. No lies, no sales pitches, no games. Nosce te ipsum.

3,000.

2007-01-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

According to the Department of Defense, Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad. So, as the year 2006 came to a close the U.S. Military this latest loss for U.S. forces brings the total count of soldier deaths in Iraq to 3,000.

The American death toll since the start of the Iraqi invasion in March of 2003 was at 1,000 in September of 2004 and 2,000 by October 2005 according to a recent MSNBC article.

Meanwhile, President Bush continues to weigh his options toward a renewed or sustained campaign in the war torn region. Please!

There's been more weighing than in an entire season of The Biggest Loser (ironic title intended). If the President doesn't come to realize that with the change in congressional leadership because of the November elections, his dismal approval ratings (around 37%±2)and the increased pressure to change his stance from pundits, former Presidents and the U.S. people combined, he's looking at the worst, lame-duck Presidency of all time.

How will we remember W.? What will his legacy entail? First, let's see what can be done to prevent 4,000.

The New York Times has a fitting, and helpful database for those wishing to know more about each of the 3,000 soldiers killed in the line of duty.

Lazy Sunday: Part 23

2006-12-31T09:44:00.000-08:00

The final "Lazy Sunday" of 2006 and all I can say is there's a lot of weirdness in Portland just waiting for a chance to get out. Politics, battles, misunderstandings, events, movies, entertainment, sports, space adventures, holiday get-togethers. This year was as grand as many of the last.

Enjoy the New Year's festivities and be safe tonight.

-------------------------
Later:

Okay, so we get three Lazy Sunday pictures for one on the end of 2006. I thought I'd check out the listing for ABC's Rockin' New Year's with Dick Clark and nearly spewed my mocha all over my computer monitor.

We all know about Dick Clark's age and survival post-stroke, and even more about the growing popularity Ryan Seacrest is getting as heir-apparent to the end-of-year festivities; but Clark's resemblance to Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in Batman is uncanny!

"Put on a happy face, 2007!"

Two Left.

2006-12-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

There are two matters that I am highly considering writing about today. Neither of which are very festive, but I cannot be considered the sole cause of that.

First of all, the remains of former U.S. President Gerry Ford were moved for display at the Rotunda in Washington, D.C., today were the family and nations public are traditionally given the chance for viewing and grieving. President Ford's body will remain in the Rotunda until early Tuesday when President Bush and others will perform the eulogies. Today, Vice President Dick Cheney and outgoing Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert (R-IL), were the top speakers to offer their thoughts on the importance of President Ford's passing. Others may think this is a mistake, to offer a second-tier line-up of speakers for the viewing of President Ford; but I suspect the boys were chosen to speak due to simpler reasons.

You see President Bush and the family are on vacation (again) in Crawford, Texas. Interestingly a storm watch was in placed into effect for central Texas as severe winds and weather hit and subsequently forced the First Family be driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch. Obviously, with all the relaxing and twister action, the President couldn't be torn away to speak at the viewing. Besides, he'll be there in D.C. on Tuesday (giving his speech writers time to see family and write a helluva eulogy).

This couldn't have anything to do with the release by Washington Post editor, Bob Woodward, of a 28 April 2006 interview he had with President Ford on his thoughts on the Iraq Invasion, could it? After all, Gerry Ford had great and close ties with a few of the current President's cabinet so Ford had some clout with his opinion. His full statement has not been released but some parts of it are fairly damning:

"I don't think I would have gone to war,"..."Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,"... "I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do."
-Former U.S. President Gerry Ford in earlier 2006 interview with Bob Woodward

Did the release of this former President's comments create a bit of a sore spot for W.? Keep in mind, Tuesday is the second day with a new Congress and groups of congressional leaders. Pressure will be on and this short memoriam for President Ford may hold greater weight than even the State of the Union Speech at the end of January - early February. Time will tell.

Secondly in a BBC News article yesterday, the global warming debate was given renewed cannon-fodder for slinging at the doubters that the world is warming thanks to the unchecked burning of fossil fuels by humans. Scientists have discovered on satellite images that a shelf of Canadian Artic ice, larger than Manhattan Island, broke away from the mass of ice in the North artic sea.

As this year closes I'd like to think that the current leaders of these United States are aware of the consistency of those forces that surround them: inevitable death and the legacy a leader leaves once they succumb, nature's ever-present forces that remind humanity of its comparative frailty, and the current wave of left-leaning political viewpoints calling for resolution in the Middle East and a restoration of this nation's international reputation as a principled force for human rights.

If these forces are ignored long enough, will they go away? Time will tell.

All Fall Down.

2006-12-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

Even before the touting by grateful Iraqi-Americans on CNN, I sat on my couch as the News Hour with Jim Leher was interrupted with the news of Saddam Hussein's execution. That it took less than one week after his appeal was dismissed suggests to me one of two things. Either the majority Iraqi Shia party sought swift justice on behalf of themselves or the families of those Kurdish victims in 1983 (and wished to prevent a possible litany of Sunni demands for alternate recourse in Saddam's punishment) or this hastened act was meant to stave the growing Ba'athist sympathies by exerting that the current Iraqi Government is THE ONLY Iraqi Government now and always. So there, Bush, Rice & Cheney.

Western media will spin this all day Saturday. Whether it's sports commentators during NBA or College Bowl games (waxing patriotic about the hangman's justice,) or liberal, humanitarian groups' outcrying over the inhumanity of allowing hanging as a form of State-sponsored execution, I fear that his death will spark something more profound before the year's end.

Stay tuned, sportscenter is next.

Read Into It.

2006-12-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" —George W. Bush

As the year comes to a close I am reminded of the bet that was placed betweeen White House Advisor, and Chief Scoundrel, Carl Rove, and President Bush. The bet was to see who, between the two of them, could read the most books before the end of this year.

Back in August, this was the talk of the White House:
"Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush's competitive delight, has racked up only 50)."
So, what's your total?

Cleethead's Dead.

2006-12-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

My father used to call President Gerald Ford "Cleethead" after all the time he spent in playing ball and being a male model. Never did he think Ford was an idiot, by definition of the position as President he figured you have be fairly smart in some regard. What a president did during their administration is where he'd loosen any expectations for intelligent decision making. After all, he figured after fighting in the Pacific most every politician had the makings of a complete stupe.

Still, I think there was some fondness between Ford and my dad. I think he'd have liked to have seen the day "Cleethead" ran for the end zone one last time. Here's to you, Gerry.

Brand New Bag.

2006-12-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, The Hardest-Working Man in Entertainment, The Godfather of Soul, The incomperable James Brown died at the age of 73. Not to be outdone by other festivities, nor to be forgotten as anything less than the ultimate showman, his death on Christmas day was fitting of a man how had dedicated his life to being bigger than life.

Rest in peace.

One Week Left.

2006-12-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

To all, a good night. At times I wonder if Pope Benedict XVI, a man notably regarded as amenable to most ideas while remaining staunchly provincial on specifics, is actually playing out some great scheme toward a revitalization of the Catholic & Christian doctrine. A “Holy Make-Over” if you will. What with the many scandals, abundant wealth and priceless relics the church has amassed over the centuries, add to this the strife & religious turmoil reaching fever pitch in the world, could The Pope have picked a better time to deliver the Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have just heard in the Gospel the message given by the angels to the shepherds during that Holy Night, a message which the Church now proclaims to us: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:11-12). Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds as a sign. All they will see is a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, one who, like all children, needs a mother’s care; a child born in a stable, who therefore lies not in a cradle but in a manger. God’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. Only in their hearts will the shepherds be able to see that this baby fulfills the promise of the prophet Isaiah, which we heard in the first reading: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder” (Is 9:5). Exactly the same sign has been given to us. We too are invited by the angel of God, through the message of the Gospel, to set out in our hearts to see the child lying in the manger.

God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendor. He comes as a baby defenseless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will we learn to live with him and to practice with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him. The Fathers of the Church, in their Greek translation of the Old Testament, found a passage from the prophet Isaiah that Paul also quotes in order to show how God’s new ways had already been foretold in the Old Testament. There we read: “God made his Word short, he abbreviated it” (Is 10:23; Rom 9:28). The Fathers interpreted this in two ways. The Son himself is the Word, the Logos; the eternal Word became small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way he teaches us to love the weak. In this way he teaches us respect for children. The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze toward all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn. Toward children who are placed as soldiers in a violent world; toward children who have to beg; toward children who suffer deprivation and hunger; toward children who are unloved. In all of these it is the Child of Bethlehem who is crying out to us; it is the God who has become small who appeals to us. Let us pray this night that the brightness of God’s love may enfold all these children. Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected. May they all experience the light of love, which mankind needs so much more than the material necessities of life.

And so we come to the second meaning that the Fathers saw in the phrase: “God made his Word short”. The Word which God speaks to us in Sacred Scripture had become long in the course of the centuries. It became long and complex, not just for the simple and unlettered, but even more so for those versed in Sacred Scripture, for the experts who evidently became entangled in details and in particular problems, almost to the extent of losing an overall perspective. Jesus “abbreviated” the Word he showed us once more its deeper simplicity and unity. Everything taught by the Law and the Prophets is summed up, he says, in the command: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-40). This is everything the whole faith is contained in this one act of love which embraces God and humanity. Yet now further questions arise: how are we to love God with all our mind, when our intellect can barely reach him? How are we to love him with all our heart and soul, when our heart can only catch a glimpse of him from afar, when there are so many contradictions in the world that would hide his face from us? This is where the two ways in which God has “abbreviated” his Word come together. He is no longer distant. He is no longer unknown. He is no longer beyond the reach of our heart. He has become a child for us, and in so doing he has dispelled all doubt. He has become our neighbor, restoring in this way the image of man, whom we often find so hard to love. For us, God has become a gift. He has given himself. He has entered time for us. He who is the Eternal One, above time, he has assumed our time and raised it to himself on high. Christmas has become the Feast of gifts in imitation of God who has given himself to us. Let us allow our heart, our soul and our mind to be touched by this fact! Among the many gifts that we buy and receive, let us not forget the true gift: to give each other something of ourselves, to give each other something of our time, to open our time to God. In this way anxiety disappears, joy is born, and the feast is created. During the festive meals of these days let us remember the Lord’s words: “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite those who will invite you in return, but invite those whom no one invites and who are not able to invite you” (cf. Lk 14:12-14). This also means: when you give gifts for Christmas, do not give only to those who will give to you in return, but give to those who receive from no one and who cannot give you anything back. This is what God has done: he invites us to his wedding feast, something which we cannot reciprocate, but can only receive with joy. Let us imitate him! Let us love God and, starting from him, let us also love man, so that, starting from man, we can then rediscover God in a new way!

And so, finally, we find yet a third meaning in the saying that the Word became “brief” and “small”. The shepherds were told that they would find the child in a manger for animals, who were the rightful occupants of the stable. Reading Isaiah (1:3), the Fathers concluded that beside the manger of Bethlehem there stood an ox and an ass. At the same time they interpreted the text as symbolizing the Jews and the pagans and thus all humanity who, each in their own way, have need of a Savior: the God who became a child. Man, in order to live, needs bread, the fruit of the earth and of his labor. But he does not live by bread alone. He needs nourishment for his soul: he needs meaning that can fill his life. Thus, for the Fathers, the manger of the animals became the symbol of the altar, on which lies the Bread which is Christ himself: the true food for our hearts. Once again we see how he became small: in the humble appearance of the host, in a small piece of bread, he gives us himself.

All this is conveyed by the sign that was given to the shepherds and is given also to us: the child born for us, the child in whom God became small for us. Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace of looking upon the crib this night with the simplicity of the shepherds, so as to receive the joy with which they returned home (cf. Lk 2:20). Let us ask him to give us the humility and the faith with which Saint Joseph looked upon the child that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit. Let us ask the Lord to let us look upon him with that same love with which Mary saw him. And let us pray that in this way the light that the shepherds saw will shine upon us too, and that what the angels sang that night will be accomplished throughout the world: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” Amen!

Lazy Sunday: Part 22

2006-12-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

Despite the pull to put up a Christmas-style photo like I did a few Sundays ago, try this:

Castro's nearing death and with his death a new order may be coming to the little island just southeast of Florida. It was a good run, Señor.

Photo by Reuters, 2006

Lazy Sunday: Part 21

2006-12-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

I've finished school and begun a new job. What better than this for Sunday? My surgical technology class of 2002, Southwestern Oregon Community College.

Lazy Sunday: Part 20

2006-12-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

Discovery returns to space. Yesterday's launch was its first at night in over four years and it couldn't have gone smoother.

Photo by NASA

Teacher's Eleventh Day.

2006-12-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

My last lecture.

Giving Season.

2006-12-04T00:48:00.000-08:00

As a young boy, I was a big fan of the television show M*A*S*H. Hawkeye, Trapper, Burns, Hot Lips, all of them just made my day with antics and moral issues thinly wrapped into 23 minute shows. Later on in the show’s run, the jokes turned more serious. The commentary, more solemn. In one episode a ticking clock arises in the lower left corner of the screen (anatomical left.) The idea was that a soldier’s aorta, the large artery stemming off the heart, was mostly removed and the boy was bleeding to death. The team had twenty minutes to transplant the aorta of a soldier near death into the one they were attempting to save. Usual concerns of rejection, type and tissue matching were set aside for the drama of how the dying soldier’s buddy was against the idea that the doctors wanted to use his body as a donor bank, ignoring the idea that he’s a living man with family, friends and a life of his own. In the end, it was Father Mulcahy that convinces the skeptic with a simple argument:

Father: “Do you think he was the kind of man that would throw himself on a grenade to save the life of someone else?

”Soldier: “Yeah. He would.”

Father: “Even if that person he was saving was someone he didn’t know?”

Soldier: “Of course.”

Father: “Well, that’s what he’s doing right now.”

Why bring this up? Two reasons.

First it’s the holidays and giving is always focused on as the seasonal act. What I contend is that giving is a natural act, something we all do every day. Be mindful of this, and the holiday season isn’t just at the end of November and December.

Second, I was reading in the 24 November issue of the Portland Tribune to read that OHSU had performed a stem cell implant into the brain of a child with Batten Disease. Did the donor know the recipient? In the case from the television show, the soldier had a life, made friends and otherwise. Even if we presume that the stem cells were derived from a dying fetus, or frozen embryo marked for discarding, isn't is conceivable that all humans want to try to do for others, even at the cost of the greatest sacrifice a human being can make?

I'm not asking for a specific morality to be the key, or even considering one thought being greater than another. Asking, thinking, trying, doing these are the acts of a person mired by guilt by cognizant of consequence.

Lazy Sunday: Part 19

2006-12-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend, well... you know it's the holidays when:

People dressed as Santa Clauses enjoy a ride on a rollercoaster at the Europa Park in Rust, southwestern Germany
Photo by Reuters on 2 December 2006.

Rummy's Last Word.

2006-12-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

We're all shocked that Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memorandum stating some reservations toward the declining situation in Iraq, right?

To think that the man who was so absolutely convincing that the Bush Administration's stance of "Stay the Course" would lead to "victory in Iraq", the man who was purported to walk into the Pentagon and quash all ideas save for his own, D.R. would leave a message lying around for the New York Times to find detailing alternate paths the U.S. military could take for Iraq and Afghanistan? Sure he would.

People, sure he thought of many different ways to build a mouse trap, but they all catch mice. This little excerpt of inner-thinking from the former Sec. Def. and CIA spook is most likely a "hindsight" message in case an investigation into the makings of the Iraq War starts to come against him.

Do not be fooled to think he's a benevolent soul. After all: you leave with the army you have, not with the one you want.

Nearly There.

2006-12-01T01:10:00.000-08:00

If most can work in the same place for just 50 months and come away happier, wiser, well-rounded in experience and humble, who could ask for more? Monday morning, I am no longer an employee of OHSU's Labor & Delivery Unit, but of the main operating room, South O.R.

I will miss my cohorts and look forward to starting anew with professionals downstairs. Everything old is new again.

Starting the Season.

2006-11-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we start the month of December. A month in which the U.S. will spend more than in any other month of the year. The debt increases and we sit on what Edward R. Murows referred to as "our fat surpluses."

Stay chipper, everyone. It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? Try this: give to someone other than yourself or a loved one. Just one person you don't really know or like very much... try giving them something for which they will remember you fondly.

A smile. A kind greeting. A card with more than just a pithy catchphrase writen in it. Forgiveness. Compassion. Sit with someone you disagree with and ask them what would have to be done to understand each other.

I'm not a man of religious faith, and that should not exclude me from the teachings of any one practice. This is espescially true when the doctrines are as welcoming as they are for empathy and benevolence.

Sincerely Yours,

2006-11-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

Though today's posting is long, bare with it because this could be the message proving to become the forbearer to those matters for our Nation's future in diplomacy.

This is an open letter sent to the White House:

"Mr. George Bush, president of the United States of America

For some time now, I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena -- which are being constantly debated, especially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. Those have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hopes that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.

Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him), the great Messenger of God,

Feel obliged to respect human rights,

Present liberalism as a civilization model,

Announce one's opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs,

Make "War on Terror" his slogan,

And finally,

work towards the establishment of an unified international community -- a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern,

But at the same time,

Have countries attacked. The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy set ablaze.

Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around 100,000 people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps 50 years. At what price? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries and tens of thousands of young men and women -- as occupation troops -- put in harms way, taken away from family and loved ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that everyday some commit suicide and those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of ailments; while some are killed and their bodies handed to their families.

On the pretext of the existence of WMDs, this great tragedy came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country. Later it was revealed that no WMDs existed to begin with.

Of course, Saddam was a murderous dictator. But the war was not waged to topple him, the announced goal of the war was to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction. He was toppled along the way towards another goal; nevertheless the people of the region are happy about it. I point out that throughout the many years of the imposed war on Iran Saddam was supported by the West.

Mr. President,

You might know that I am a teacher. My students ask me how can these actions be reconciled with the values outlined at the beginning of this letter and duty to the tradition of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him), the Messenger of peace and forgiveness?

There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that have not been tried, have no legal representation, their families cannot see them and are obviously kept in a strange land outside their own country. There is no international monitoring of their conditions and fate. No one knows whether they are prisoners, POWs, accused or criminals.

European investigators have confirmed the existence of secret prisons in Europe too. I could not correlate the abduction of a person, and him or her being kept in secret prisons, with the provisions of any judicial system. For that matter, I fail to understand how such actions correspond to the values outlined in the beginning of this letter, i.e. the teachings of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him), human rights and liberal values.

Young people, university students, and ordinary people have many questions about the phenomenon of Israel. I am sure you are familiar with some of them.

Throughout history, many countries have been occupied, but I think the establishment of a new country with a new people, is a new phenomenon that is exclusive to our times.

Students are saying that 60 years ago such a country did not exist. They show old documents and globes and say try as we have, we have not been able to find a country named Israel.

I tell them to study the history of WWI and II. One of my students told me that during WWII, which more than tens of millions of people perished in, news about the war, was quickly disseminated by the warring parties. Each touted their victories and the most recent battlefront defeat of the other party. After the war they claimed that six million Jews had been killed. Six million people that were surely related to at least two million families. Again let us assume that these events are true. Does that logically translate into the establishment of the state of Israel in the Middle East or support for such a state? How can this phenomenon be rationalized or explained?

Mr. President,

I am sure you know how -- and at what cost -- Israel was established:

-- Many thousands were killed in the process.

-- Millions of indigenous people were made refugees.

-- Hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland, olive plantations, towns and villages were destroyed.

This tragedy is not exclusive to the time of establishment; unfortunately it has been ongoing for 60 years now.

A regime has been established which does not show mercy even to kids, destroys houses while the occupants are still in them, announces beforehand its list and plans to assassinate Palestinian figures, and keeps thousands of Palestinians in prison. Such a phenomenon is unique -- or at the very least extremely rare -- in recent memory.

Another big question asked by the people is "why is this regime being supported?"

Is support for this regime in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) or Moses (Peace Be Upon Him) or liberal values?

Or are we to understand that allowing the original inhabitants of these lands -- inside and outside Palestine -- whether they are Christian, Muslim or Jew, to determine their fate, runs contrary to principles of democracy, human rights and the teachings of prophets? If not, why is there so much opposition to a referendum?

The newly elected Palestinian administration recently took office. All independent observers have confirmed that this government represents the electorate. Unbelievingly, they have put the elected government under pressure and have advised it to recognize the Israeli regime, abandon the struggle and follow the programs of the previous government.

If the current Palestinian government had run on the above platform, would the Palestinian people have voted for it? Again, can such position taken in opposition to the Palestinian government be reconciled with the values outlined earlier? The people are, also asking "why are all UNSC resolutions in condemnation of Israel vetoed?"

Mr. President,

As you are well aware, I live amongst the people and am in constant contact with them -- many people from around the Middle East manage to contact me as well. They do not have faith in there dubious policies either. There is evidence that the people of the region are becoming increasingly angry with such policies.

It is not my intention to pose too many questions, but I need to refer to other points as well.

Why is it that any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime? Is not scientific R&D one of the basic rights of nations?

You are familiar with history. Aside from the Middle Ages, in what other point in history has scientific and technical progress been a crime? Can the possibility of scientific achievements being utilized for military purposes be reason enough to oppose science and technology altogether? If such a supposition is true, then all scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc, must be opposed.

Lies were told in the Iraqi matter. What was the result? I have no doubt that telling lies is reprehensible in any culture, and you do not like to be lied to.

Mr. President,

Don't Latin Americans have the right to ask why their elected government are being opposed and coup leaders supported? Or, Why must they constantly be threatened and live in fear?

The people of Africa are hard-working, creative and talented. They can play an important and valuable role in providing for the needs of humanity and contribute to its material and spiritual progress. Poverty and hardship in large parts of Africa are preventing this from happening. Don't they have the right to ask why their enormous wealth -- including minerals -- is being looted, despite the fact that they need it more than others?

Again, do such actions correspond to the teachings of Christ and the tenets of human rights?

The brave and faithful people of Iran too have many questions and grievances, including: the coup d'etat of 1953 and the subsequent toppling of the legal government of the day, opposition to the Islamic revolution, transformation of an Embassy into a headquarters supporting the activities of those opposing the Islamic Republic (many thousands of pages of documents corroborate this claim), support for Saddam in the war waged against Iran, the shooting down of the Iranian passenger plane, freezing the assets of the Iranian nation, increasing threats, anger and displeasure vis-a-vis the scientific and nuclear progress of the Iranian nation (just when all Iranians are jubilant and celebrating their country's progress), and many other grievances that I will not refer to in this letter.

Mr. President,

September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.

All governments have a duty to protect the lives, property and good standing of their citizens. Reportedly your government employs extensive security, protection and intelligence systems -- and even hunts its opponents abroad. September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services -- or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren't those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?

All governments have a duty to provide security and peace of mind for their citizens. For some years now, the people of your country and neighbors of world trouble spots do not have peace of mind. After 9.11, instead of healing and tending to the emotional wounds of the survivors and the American people -- who had been immensely traumatized by the attacks -- some Western media only intensified the climate of fear and insecurity -- some constantly talked about the possibility of new terror attacks and kept the people in fear. Is that service to the American people? Is it possible to calculate the damages incurred from fear and panic?

American citizens lived in constant fear of fresh attacks that could come at any moment and in any place. They felt insecure in the street, in their place of work and at home. Who would be happy with this situation? Why was the media, instead of conveying a feeling of security and providing peace of mind, giving rise to a feeling of insecurity?

Some believe that the hype paved the way -- and was the justification -- for an attack on Afghanistan. Again I need to refer to the role of media. In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles. The main pretext for an attack on Iraq was the existence of WMDs. This was repeated incessantly -- for the public to finally believe -- and the ground set for an attack on Iraq.

Will the truth not be lost in a contrived and deceptive climate? Again, if the truth is allowed to be lost, how can that be reconciled with the earlier mentioned values?

Is the truth known to the Almighty lost as well?

Mr. President,

In countries around the world, citizens provide for the expenses of governments so that their governments in turn are able to serve them.

The question here is "what has the hundreds of billions of dollars, spent every year to pay for the Iraqi campaign, produced for the citizens?"

As Your Excellency is aware, in some states of your country, people are living in poverty. Many thousands are homeless and unemployment is a huge problem. Of course these problems exist -- to a larger or lesser extent -- in other countries as well. With these conditions in mind, can the gargantuan expenses of the campaign -- paid from the public treasury -- be explained and be consistent with the aforementioned principles?

What has been said, are some of the grievances of the people around the world, in our region and in your country. But my main contention -- which I am hoping you will agree to some of it -- is:

Those in power have a specific time in office and do not rule indefinitely, but their names will be recorded in history and will be consistently judged in the immediate and distant futures.

The people will scrutinize our presidencies. Did we manage to bring peace, security and prosperity for the people or insecurity and unemployment?

Did we intend to establish justice or just supported special interest groups, and by forcing many people to live in poverty and hardship made a few people rich and powerful -- thus trading the approval of the people and the Almighty with theirs?

Did we defend the rights of the underprivileged or ignore them?

Did we defend the rights of all people around the world or imposed wars on them, interfered illegally in their affairs, established hellish prisons and incarcerated some of them?

Did we bring the world peace and security or raised the specter of intimidation and threats?

Did we tell the truth to our nation and others around the world or presented an inverted version of it?

Were we on the side of people or the occupiers and oppressors?

Did our administrations set out to promote rational behavior, logic, ethics, peace, fulfilling obligations, justice, service to the people, prosperity, progress and respect for human dignity or the force of guns, Intimidation, insecurity, disregard for the people, delaying the progress and excellence of other nations, and trample on people's rights?

And finally, they will judge us on whether we remained true to our oath of office -- to serve the people, which is our main task, and the traditions of the prophets -- or not?

Mr. President,

How much longer can the world tolerate this situation?

Where will this trend lead the world to?

How long must the people of the world pay for the incorrect decisions of some rulers?

How much longer will the specter of insecurity -- raised from the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction -- hunt the people of the world?

How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads?

Are you pleased with the current condition of the world?

Do you think present policies can continue?

If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on investment and assistance for poor countries, promotion of health, combating different diseases, education and improvement of mental and physical fitness, assistance to the victims of natural disasters, creation of employment opportunities and production, development projects and poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, mediation between disputing states, and extinguishing the flames of racial, ethnic and other conflicts, were would the world be today? Would not your government and people be justifiably proud?

Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger?

And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever increasing global hatred of the American government?

Mr. President, it is not my intention to distress anyone.

If Prophet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, Joseph, or Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) were with us today, how would they have judged such behavior? Will we be given a role to play in the promised world, where justice will become universal and Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) will be present? Will they even accept us?

My basic question is this: Is there no better way to interact with the rest of the world? Today there are hundreds of millions of Christians, hundreds of millions of Muslims and millions of people who follow the teachings of Moses (Peace Be Upon Him). All divine religions share and respect one word and that is "monotheism" or belief in a single God and no other in the world.

The Holy Koran stresses this common word and calls on all followers of divine religions and says: (3.64) Say: O followers of the Book! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims. (The Family of Imran)

Mr. President,

According to divine verses, we have all been called upon to worship one God and follow the teachings of divine Prophets.

"To worship a God which is above all powers in the world and can do all He pleases." "the Lord which knows that which is hidden and visible, the past and the future, knows what goes on in the Hearts of His servants and records their deeds."

"The Lord who is the possessor of the heavens and the earth and all universe is His court" "planning for the universe is done by His hands, and gives His servants the glad tidings of mercy and forgiveness of sins" "He is the companion of the oppressed and the enemy of oppressors" "He is the Compassionate, the Merciful" "He is the recourse of the faithful and guides them towards the light from darkness" "He is witness to the actions of His servants" "He calls on servants to be faithful and do good deeds, and asks them to stay on the path of righteousness and remain steadfast" "Calls on servants to heed His prophets and He is a witness to their deeds" "A bad ending belongs only to those who have chosen the life of this world and disobey Him and oppress His servants" and "A good land and eternal paradise belong to those servants who fear His majesty and do not follow their lascivious selves."

We believe a return to the teachings of the divine prophets is the only road leading to salvation and have been told that Your Excellency follows the teachings of Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) and believes in the divine promise of the rule of the righteous on Earth.

We also believe that Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) was one of the great prophets of the Almighty. He has been repeatedly praised in the Koran. Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) has been quoted in Koran as well: (19.36) And surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve Him; this is the right path.

Service to and obedience of the Almighty is the credo of all divine messengers.

The God of all people in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the Pacific and the rest of the world is one. He is the Almighty who wants to guide and give dignity to all His servants. He has given greatness to Humans.

We again read in the Holy Book: "The Almighty God sent His prophets with miracles and clear signs to guide the people and show them divine signs and purify them from sins and pollutions. And He sent the Book and the balance so that the people display justice and avoid the rebellious."

All of the above verses can be seen, one way or the other, in the Good Book as well.

Divine prophets have promised:

The day will come when all humans will congregate before the court of the Almighty, so that their deeds are examined, The good will be directed towards Haven and evildoers will meet divine retribution. I trust both of us believe in such a day, but it will not be easy to calculate the actions of rulers, because we must be answerable to our nation and all others whose lives have been directly or indirectly affected by our actions.

All prophets, speak of peace and tranquillity for man -- based on monotheism, justice and respect for human dignity.

Do you not think that if all of us come to believe in and abide by these principles, that is, monotheism, worship of God, justice, respect for the dignity of man, belief in the Last Day, we can overcome the present problems of the world -- that are the result of disobedience to the Almighty and the teachings of prophets -- and improve our performance?

Do you not think that belief in these principles promotes and guarantees peace, friendship and justice?

Do you not think that the aforementioned written or unwritten principles are universally represented?

Will you not accept this invitation? That is, a genuine return to the teachings of prophets, to monotheism and justice, to preserve human dignity and obedience to the Almighty and His prophets?

Mr. President,

History tells us that repressive and cruel governments do not survive. God has entrusted the fate of men to them. The Almighty has not left the universe and humanity to their own devices. Many things have happened contrary to the wishes and plans of governments. These tell us that there is a higher power at work and all events are determined by Him.

Can one deny the signs of change in the world today?

Is the situation of the world today comparable to that of 10 years ago? Changes happen fast and come at a furious pace.

The people of the world are not happy with the status quo and pay little heed to the promises and comments made by a number of influential world leaders. Many people around the world feel insecure and oppose the spreading of insecurity and war and do not approve of and accept dubious policies.

The people are protesting the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots and the rich and poor countries.

The people are disgusted with increasing corruption.

The people of many countries are angry about the attacks on their cultural foundations and the disintegration of families. They are equally dismayed with the fading of care and compassion. The people of the world have no faith in international organizations, because their rights are not advocated by these organizations.

Liberalism and Western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems.

We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: "Do you not want to join them?"

Mr. President,

Whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things."

This is an unoffical Reuters translation from Farsi of a letter sent to President Bush written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and published in the Washigton Post at 14:40 on 9 May 2006. Almost seven months ago.

Compare this letter to the wording President Ahmadinejad uses in today's letter addressed to the people of the United States.

One week before the elections, President Bush held a well-covered news conference on the Rose Garden lawn. There he effectively stated that he would be willing change course in Iraq. This was despite the dozens of statements since the March 2003 invasion that he would not give in to "cut & run" options but "stay the course." As of yesterday, he and Secretary of State Rice said returned to the former belief that changing the course is the wrong move. This, despite the memo leaked to The New York Times yesterday written by U.S. National Security Advisor, Stephen J. Hadley, which effectively relates a vote of no-confidence in Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Who's waffling now? Has this efectively become a matter of who wants peace more?

Iranians? Americans? Iraqis? Kurds? Sunnis? Shiites? Isralies? Afghanis? Palestinians?

When is everyone going to stop the pissing match and realize that the people they represent tire from endless martyrdom, starvation, interloping, bickering and strife? Food, warmth, laughter and comfort should not be matters to be delegated for over the barrel of a gun. Nor should they suffer pointlessly because of misunderstanding, ego or selfishness.

Represent us, Mr. Presidents.

Teacher's Tenth Day.

2006-11-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today I upset the balance between my boss and I. Surprise.

Rather than focus on the knowledge related to the second year students of the surgical technology program at MHCC, the program director decided to throw a fit over the shortness of the day's quiz I had prepared for the students. Mind you, before this day, she has had no trouble at all over any of the previous eight quizzes she'd received every Tuesday morning under her office door. "Quizzes are supposed to be worth 15 to 20 points, not ten," she chastises me. "Can't you add some more to this? Some matching, catheters or naming?"

I'd already made photocopies of the quiz, related some fairly straightforward information in my lecture and informed her that I'd really grabbed the most important information off the lecture last week and placed them into the quiz. Last week was also Thanksgiving, I told her. I anticipated this by lecturing on a subject that a surgical technologist needed to understand, but really held little in the way of vital information as far as surgical care was concerned. Because of this, I anticipated a rather low-level focus of study from the students this weekend.

"They need to be prepared at all times and you're paid to give the lectures and prepare them completely." I didn't argue this with her then. It was clear that nothing I would have said would reassure her of my focus and professional desire to prepare the students to the best of my ability; but the truth is, I cannot prepare them completely. Because I know this, from working in the field currently and such, no one who goes through school is ever prepared for everything, and they shouldn't be either. This was likely the most blatant clue as to why her demeanor is so confrontational when it comes teaching.

I can only guess what she's doing to the first year students. New homework every week, pop quizzes, preparing lectures on the fly. This field involves new technologies, standardizing of protocols, and a well-established system of procedures and rules that are followed to give the best care to everyone who seeks it.

A quiz, worth five to ten points less than any I've given or had been expected to give before this one, will make little difference as to whether or not they know how to prepare a room for ESWL or stone removal or not. This was simply a matter of who's in charge, and I already knew that clearly when I was sought out to teach this class by her over seven months ago. She knew whom she was getting back then. Why's it so surprising to find out that I am who I am now? The pressure, it would seem, is on her.

Lazy Sunday: Part 18

2006-11-26T00:06:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend everyone to start looking at Reuters photos on occasion. They and Time seem to get some of the best shots of event around the world. I'll be utilizing them for my Lazy Sundays for a while until my new camera arrives after the holidays. Enjoy one that got my attention.

A protester walks in front of a burning car during rioting at the end of a demonstration in

Oaxaca on 25 November 2006 to demand the federal police leave the city.

Photo by Reuters.

Making the Move.

2006-11-25T00:09:00.000-08:00

Few things that seem easy tend to remain so. My lateral shift in jobs will likely come at a cost to my comfort level in the workforce as I have a streak of the iconoclast in me. In the main operating room, I will be subject to the actions and ideologues of the many others who work there in more tightly knit cliques than I have experienced before or ever will be close to again. This is not new as I've made this transition in the past when I went from the S.O.R. to Labor & Delivery four years ago. Being male was my most significant tip-off, but in this case, being a new face is good enough. Top this off with working the day shift for a few weeks and I can be assured of a good razzing for some time.

Keep my head. Know that I'm there to learn. Be humble. Answer questions when asked. Ask questions when I need to know. Learn in advance.

The teacher is now the student once again.

Phases.

2006-11-24T04:13:00.000-08:00

On this day, in 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.

Do you ever get the feeling that this is a repeating pattern? If the investigation into the activities of this administration concerning Abu Grahib and Guantanomo Bay turn up war-crime-level infractions, well ladies and gentlemen, the fat will certainly be in the fire won't it?

Thanks & Giving.

2006-11-23T01:03:00.000-08:00

Lisa and I are off to enjoy the buffet and night at the McMenamins Edgefield. We'll return tomorrow. Hope you and yours have a Thanksgiving as pleasureable as the President's.

Teacher's Ninth Day.

2006-11-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Despite completing my lecture an hour early today, I had plenty to talk to the students about regarding the job of surgical technologist and such. Lecturing on the specificities in ureteroscopy, reanastomosis and stent placement is one thing. They will need to know these things for continued maintenance of their jobs long from now. What I lectured on after the class ended on the G.U. system seemed so much more important.

When asked if the surgical technologists whom I knew where angry, spiteful, despondent, disenchanted or disgruntled with their positions or careers, I told them, “Yes.” This was not done to discourage or appease the students, nor was the intension of such an answer meant to cause resentment or placate to the positions of those whom I used as the model answer for their question. This answer I presented was by its own nature a characterization of the sort of person whom undertakes a livelihood enveloped in the care and management of instrumentation and techniques of surgery, neither in charge of nor subject to the outcome of a patient’s survivability. What I told my students this day was candid of a narrative as I could relate, based solely from the many impressions I have experienced in my four years of working as a surgical tech. They reacted as anyone placing their innocuous trust and meager finances would, flabbergasted.

“Why would anyone stay in such a job if that’s true?” they asked. “Who would think so lowly of their own career?” they insisted. My reply? “Those that let this job come before their lives, their families, their hopes and goals, or those that immerse themselves on the notion that no one else will ever do this job as well as they shall, are those whom allow the position of ST to become something of a lesser designation than human being. For that distinction is the greatest than any individual could ever hope to attain or distinguish upon another entity.”

May this be so for all positions and persons the world over.

No Juice.

2006-11-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's old news but here's a new spin on it. OJ Simpson's sales and Fox TV Interviews with the reprehensible Judith Regan of ReganBooks are canceled. His new book If I Did It, Here's How it Happened is purported to be a tell-all of how he would have committed the 1994 murders of which he was aquitted. Now a lot of people are properly disgusted at the idea that Simpson would write a possible confessional on murdering his wife and her friend for financial benefit, but I have come up with a way to make this work out for nearly everyone... even OJ.

Try this:

1) Meth labs and drug dealers are constantly losing drug money in police raids. Ask for this money to be put into circulation for our purposes here. Say, around $50,000 USD.

2) Buy one or two copies of the book and get together with some friends to type out the entire thing onto a web page while also making a complete .pdf file of the book cover to cover.

3) The Internet. Post it for free so anyone can access it at no cost.

4) Retain a lawyer and pay the copyright infringements for the book (both with the drug money)

Outcome: Everyone gets to read OJ's confessional for free, Nichole Brown's and Ron Goldman's families receive some level of closure despite the poisonous words OJ likely uses in both the interview and book, and he gets paid a small amount of money... in drug money. He'll also get our ire and inspire many a law student in this country who will begin a new campaign to see him convicted for double homicide despite the double jeopardy statute. After all, there's no statute of limitations on murder and the killer's still out there, right?

Don't buy the book, people. Don't watch the show. It should be free and we should hear what the bastard did.

----------------

Later:

This just in, the whole thing's been canned and now the world will have to wonder what was written.

Lazy Sunday: Part 17

2006-11-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

Back in February I met former Oregon Governor Dr. John Kizhaber, M.D. while being one of the elected panelists to ask him questions regarding his Achimedes Movement for health care reform in Oregon. It made me think about the ideas as to how we can all benefit from a little forward thinking. Today, I plan to do just that.

The Eighteenth.

2006-11-18T00:58:00.000-08:00

This day is rather dull. So to take up my day of writing, I'm going to read comics.

You should too: like this.

Airless America.

2006-11-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Following the dismall ratings of Al Franken is about to leave the show and has said he will not be doing radio any more. This is hardly a shock given the bankrupt station and low listenership. Minnesota incumbant, Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) He is better known as the guy that lost to "I an't got time to bleed" Jesse Ventura in the 1998 Minnesota Gubernatorial election Franken's chances to take the Senate are met with reasonable skeptesism given his comedic history.

However, pundits are attributing his charm and superficial knowledge of political dealings to his benefit and are seeing his chances as somewhere between good and equal. Al's outspoken anti-war-Bush-Republican books and statements seem to go hand-inhand with Senator Coleman's past feelings on the Vietnam war and Nixon administration. The Senator is known to have actively participated in peaceful protests and to have displayed an anti-war flag at one rally in particular.

So I say to the man, whether your intention is to escape the sinking boat of Air America, printing more of your books through Barnes & Nobel, or to seek State office in The North Star State: Run Al, Run!

Movin' On Down.

2006-11-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I tendered my resignation to Labor & Delivery and accepted a full-time position in the main operating room at OHSU. My employer for the past 50 months took the news well. Below are my resignation letter and my, now former, manager's reply email:

To: Molly Blaser, MN, NP Tuesday, 14 November 2006

From: "Patch" Adam B. Perryman, CST, CNA

RE: Resignation

Dear Molly,

It is with no ease that, with this letter, I tender my resignation as the 0.9 FTE Night shift OB Technician for 12C Labor & Delivery. After 50 months of continued employment on your unit I am making the lateral move to return to the department of my origins at OHSU, the South Operating Room.

After speaking to my family and the department managers of the SOR, I have been offered a 1.0 FTE position that meets my needs in regards to my continued professional development, educational goals and personal interests. This decision was thought over for some months now. Though it may seem at first that there were mitigating circumstances lending to my desire in seeking a change in employ, I can say without contest that my primary motivation stems not from a lack of any one thing, but an interest in seeking out new challenges I feel better prepared for thanks to working on Labor & Delivery.

I will work through the next three weekends before starting my day shift orientation the second week of December. This places my final night shift on 12C for Sunday 3 December 2006 ending the morning of the fourth. You are a fine leader, Molly, and your team of educators and charge nurses are the cream of the crop in any hospital. I know that I am leaving a close-knit group of professionals and friends with whom I have grown very close. Working and talking with the residents and attending physicians has helped me to better appreciate every aspect of health care more deeply than I had in the past. This is simply the right time for me to make this change in my career as opportunity rears its head.

Thank you for everything and best of fortune in the future.

Respectfully,

“Patch” Adam B. Perryman, CST, CNA

------------- Reply -------------

Adam,

Congratulations on this exciting new time for you. I am excited for your new growth and I wish you all the best. You are an excellent OB tech and you will be greatly missed. May I forward your letter to the rest of the OB staff?

Molly

I wrote a card out to the floor informing them of my specific reasons for leaving and have to say that it's a bittersweet feeling to realize that I'm making this change. It's all for the best. There is nothing more for me on that unit and so much awaiting me everywhere else.

Water & Heater.

2006-11-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today I want to write about a matter that modern American society takes for granted: internal heating systems. The fact of the matter is that without this utility, our health, society and standards of living would be on par with our Neandethal ancestors.

Today our house's heater ended it's run of glory. Upon calling for a technician to look at the problem we have discovered the large filter meant to remove irritants from the air was clogged with about a 2" thick matt of dog hair. The air simply couldn't get through to be heated. Ergo, dog was brished and a new filter was purchased.

To top it off, the thermotat was from 1976 and had long ago given up it's goat to regulate the heat in out home. A new model, digital touch-screen, programable for the week and such, was installed by myself and works just wonderfully.

Posit: Without facing the eventual problem of what can go wrong with a system, like the heater & thermostat in this instance, domestics can further ourselves far beyond the ability to contribute to society. It's one thing to have a great job with little work outside of tacking away on a computer and lounging all day, but unless we all take the time to maintain some base skills of mechanics, engineering and maintence, we will return to the days of the cave-dweller before becoming aware that it would even be possible to do so.

Teacher's Eighth Day: Interior Discussion.

2006-11-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

Class today was quite enjoyable, despite the awful news that the division director is on indefinate leave of absence following pleural effision and fluid draws that led to a diagnosis of pneumonia secondary to ovarian cancer. To Chris, her husband and family: all out suport.

It's amazing to me that since the election last Tuesday, what I read in the paper, hear on my podcasts, discuss breifly with the many people I just run into in shops or on the street, nearly everything is relating to the outcome of those elections. I get the sense nthat everyone's come out of their shells a little. Discussions are being to get robust about politics, policy, the effects of Iraq on everything, getting the troops home from there and Afghanistan, helping in Darfur, improving education... people are starting to talk about politics.

What's even more amazing to me is that the discussions are not just one-sided. At the Ugly Mug, I discussed the change of the Congress' majority party with a man who admited to putting a red stamp half-way down his ballot. He voted for Saxton, but against State Representative for District 49 Karen Minnis (R)-Wood Village saying that he works in Portland but lives out in ther in her disctrict. "She does a lot, but she's been holding up a lot of legislation that could be helping my kid in school and our property taxes at home," he told me. I asked him if her successful reelction would change anything despite the State Congress' handover to the Democrats (the first time Dems have had the majority in both houses in over 16 years). "Well," he paused and took a sip of his coffee then replied," I don't think that buisness her opponent made about an 11-year-old event she had nothing to do with helped his cause any."

TV For Liberals.

2006-11-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

More often times than not I'm not one to laud the marvels of television. In fact, I'm the guy that's had the "Kill Your Television" bumpersticker on every vehicle I've owned since 1994. What is means is that I'm a hard sell on any show from the outset. Welcome Studio 60.

The bad news is that this show is doomed to fail for three reasons:

1) I like it. Shows that I've even thought of as slightly entertaining have a nasty habit of being too smart, not budgeted well enough for retention or simply too eccentric for large audiences. Since when does taste matter in television?

2) Aaron Sorkin's last show had the same problem after week three. What put it over the edge and kept it up for eight seasons? Poor poll ratings and the desire to see a different Administration in the White House. The beauty of having a one-hour show every week that offers an alternative set of policies from those of reality left the country's liberals a lifeline after losing the 2000 election. Harsh? Sure is. Likely? Two words: eight seasons. You bet it helped. "Porno for liberals" a friend of mine in college called The West Wing. Sorkin's take on politics worked great when Bush's rating levels fluctuated between catfish bottom-feeder and the acting abilities of the "hack-lawyer-of-the-week" on Law & Order. Now that we see him on the way out, and the fact that this show focuses on Hollywood not the White House (per say) means he's biting the hand that feeds him. He admitted this himself though a Gershwin-inspired opening "skit" in the second show The Cold Open with lines stating: "Yes, it's hard to be a player when you've always had a hunch; to bite the hand that feeds you is a scary way of doing lunch." Chomp!

Finally,

3) No one's watching, the show's expensive, the actors are great, the look is fresh, and it makes us wish that SNL was half as good or interesting now as it was in the 90s or 70s. Unlike politics, taking shots at everyone through a pseudo-Saturday Night can only offer so much insulation from those in Hollywoodland.

Rumors of cancelation have started gaining strength and a missed week all-but confirmed them. The timeslot doesn't help much: NBC late night Mondays at 10pm. It's main timeslot rival? CSI: Miami on CBS. Yeah, David Caruso has more draw than Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and social comedy. Not by a little gap either. Ratings three weeks ago showed CSI with over 1M more in the market share with viewers and a retention level above 95%. On top of that... "Are Ya Ready For Some Football?" Why is it that NBC think's that Studio 60 would win out when ESPN has the game late in the fourth quarter or into OT? To NBC: You want audiences to tune in about red-state/blue-state comedy when I could be drinking a Bud Light?

It's ballsy to say it's great and all, but at least Studio 60 will get the chance to finish the first season. After that, well I think we'll take the lunch check now and hope to get at least the DVD set.

Lazy Sunday: Part 16

2006-11-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

I took this last autumn as the sun set.

A Stupidly Simple Idea.

2006-11-09T00:37:00.000-08:00

Does this seem stupidly simple?

I have been sick as of late, as I wrote earlier in the week; but sometimes those are the times when ideas are best created. I've been a member and foller of former Oregon Governor, John Kitzhaber's, Archimedes Movement to find a way to create Universal Healthcare coverage for the over 600,000 uninsured Oregonians

How can we cover them remains a heated contest of ideas, obligations and implimentation. Somehow, it seemed so stupidly simple for a brief moment. The outline I had is as follows. problems can be worked out, but I think the idea is a good place from which to work:

1. Mandate that if you work in the State of Oregon, you pay a State tax on your paycheck to cover health care in the State of Oregon for that employee. This should based on a percentage of your gross/net earnings (not certain which it should really be) and NOT as a set amount since not everyone makes the same amount of money as everyone else. This removes the question of who pays more or less and keeps things in perspective.

a. If you’re sick or injured and receive treatment outside Oregon, the hospital, clinic or agency where you receive the care should bill the State of Oregon’s Health Plan.

b. Predetermined forms of care can be considered as covered as outlined by the Oregon Division of Health.

2. Covering kids can be done simply as well.

a. Have the State send the dependent’s coverage cost through the schools and work it out through enrollment. This way, parent working or not, coverage for the kids are a given at the State’s cost. The cash is coming in anyway, this just makes certain that until the student is a graduate of H.S., they have coverage. If the student has a part time job, perhaps an allowance to remove the HC tax on their paycheck can be allowed to go to the student-worker. It feels good to see that cash on the paycheck as a young worker. Could involve savings for college or a start on investments for the future.

3. To add dependents (children, spouses, domestic partners, etc.), increase the percentage per dependant accordingly.

4. How to track those covered or not? A State-wide database that almost, already exists can be utilized. Oregon Hospital Association can work with the ODH, and major hospital groups to create the State Database that works with the employers, insurance companies,

5. About those insurance companies… driving them out of biz? They have two options:

a. Help to make this plan work by offering to do the insurance coverage themselves, with cooperation with the State of Oregon. They have the majority of the infrastructure already, and though this would put a big ? on the role of companies vs. increasing the size of government, the voter would have to weigh the benefits of a State-run vs. private-run Universal HC plan. Guess who would win if the State offered quarters to the dollars.

- or -

b. Watch the public hear about the lower cost of health coverage available from the State that’s portable, flexible, reliable, and universal. A plan like this would attract other States to copy it, and the next thing you know, the country has coverage.

6. Coverage for the unemployed, disabled or otherwise. That’s done by the federal government already. Pay for when you have a job or not. The question becomes: do we work and get coverage or not work and have coverage? Generally speaking, most would prefer to contribute than live on meager hand-outs. The system we’re talking about here involves creating a system for those who have gotten out of, currently contribute to, or are nearing entry into a national-based form of health coverage (i.e.: Medicare, Medicaid, V.A., etc.)

Campaign's End.

2006-11-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's over. The recounts mean little now, except for the few that hold on to dim hopes that error or last minute ballots will tip the balance. This will not happen. It is simply not in the cards.

The win is in, and now it is time to work.

Welcome back to the big game, President Ortega.

You'll see a different set of Democrats in the American Congress. A different George Bush that sits not in the V.P. Chair, but in the White House's Oval Office. You've made up with those in the Sandinitas who helped to oust you in the '80s. Now they laud your name and hope for governance.

Could your's become the model Presidency for other would-be-democratic nations? Who's next? Lebannon? Lybia? Iraq? Iran? After all, your push to ban abortion, desires for a stronger, free-market economy and the former President, Arnoldo Alemán, was convicted on corruption charges.

It sounds all to familiar.

------------------------

After hearing about the unconfirmed loss of R-Virgina, Senator George Allen, and challenger Jim Webb's win ensuring the Democrat majority in the Senate.

I am reminded of a quote by a great man, who believed in the power and importance of an American speaking their mind, for it is truly the right of all American people, regardless of religion, sex, or credo: Samuel Clemens.

"No party holds the privilege of dictating to me how I shall vote.

If loyalty to party is a form of patriotism, I am no patriot.

"If there is any valuable difference between a monarchist and an American, it lies in the theory that the American can decide for himself what is patriotic and what isn't.

"I claim that difference.

I am the only person in the sixty millions that is privileged to dictate my patriotism.”

- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens, A Biography

To those of you who broke with your party, to vote your conscience: heroic.

To those of you who who acted today with humility and piousy: audacious.

To those who would see a majority alone as victory, or consider the gains of the now as the goal entire: myopic.

This day is one of many and the victory of a group represents the contributions of far more than the few who claim it. Today, we all are one party; and we have a great deal of work to begin.

Congratulations.

Mid-term Run.

2006-11-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

Today, bloggers aplenty will write about the elections for congressional, senate, gubernatorial and local offices. To them I say this: go watch it happen.

Too often in these recent years bloggers have been chastised correctly for laying out blamantly any information that derives from single-person or questionable internet sources. A lot has been learned from this country's elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004. That there are enough people to write what they think and how they believe in remarkable if not stagering to think about. Consider though if all the bloggers agreed on one candidate, one issue or one goal. Stagerring doesn't even cover the base of such a thought.

So to the blogger-pundits and op-ed-would-bes, to the man in the street or the League of Women Voters I say this: meet up, see how this process works with your own eyes. Report what happens, weather be damned.

Be your own source for today. Tomorrow will quote you all the better.

Awaiting Tomorrow.

2006-11-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

There's really only one topic of major interest in the U.S. today, and sadly it's overwhelming many other issues that revolved around it. I could wax deep philosophy or be a critic of how the elections tomorrow will matter so much or little, but that's how the interweb works. Richard Stevens, who writes the webcomic Diesel Sweeties, had a charater of his named Indie Rock Pete state that a blogger's relationship with the internet is essentially quite fickle and that, "People only pay attention when you say something they disagree with." I forgive the ending a sentence with a preposition, but argue that he's more than half right. Should disagreement be the better course of valor for the blogger?

As we've seen from the political campgains this year the majority of bloggers are actually in agreement: that change to the blue is the best course. Tomorrow we will likely see a huge shift in the wind for the HoR and possibly the Senate as well. That's the consensus of bloggers who prefer to be mavericks and the providers of gainsa. As for myself, I've canvased, spoken out, written my letters and posts, spoke with the uncertain and debated the steadfast this year. My ballot is already in since Oregon votes statewide by mail. The count starts at 8:00 a.m. PST.

Lazy Sunday: Part 15

2006-11-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

I took this photo over a decade ago, back when I lived in Eugene, Oregon. I have no idea who painted it, but if you ever get the chance to see it in person, it's an amazingly realistic look.

The building, upon which it is painted, can be found facing eastward off of High Street between 12th and 11th Avenues.

Photo by Patch Adam Perryman

Epiphany.

2006-11-01T02:14:00.000-08:00

Today marks my 100th posting. a centential of sorts. Today is also the start of the NBA basketball regular season (Go Blazers!)

Back on 1 November 1947, the Spruce Goose flew for the first time (it's kept in McMinnville, Oregon's Evergeen Aviation Museum). Back in 1948, "Dewey Beats Truman" was displayed by President Truman after winning his second term by over two million popular votes.

So many other inetersting things happened on this day, in the past and today... imagine what will happen tomorrow. Happy 100.

By the way, did you know that the Internet is shit?

Teacher's Sixth Day: Halloween!

2006-10-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to go out tonight and enjoy a night of terror as a zombie. First things first, I teach today, more on the G.U. system.

Lazy Sunday: Part 14

2006-10-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

The season has changed, and so has the weather. Welcome to the harvest season. Long coats. Thermal underware. Knit scarves. This is the northwest at its best.

Myself walking down Reed College Way.

Fed. Rate, Meet the Voter.

2006-10-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

Many people are attempting to figure out the goings on with our nation's economy. Questions aboud for the economically-minded American such as, "Has the housing market bubble really popped?" "What about my retirement fund?" "How will I pay for my kids to attend college?" "Will a Big Mac really cost $10 USD in 2050?" Though I turned pseudo-vegetarian nearly a decade ago (I eat nothing that once had lungs, but gills are fine by this "Oregon coastie",)

Happening along the intraweb as I do, no differently than the billions of other globally-minded bloggers, an MSNBC article under the guise of Breaking News led me to click its link. Besides the article itself, this chart to the right popped up. I gave this some thought and realized that the years amde all the difference when looking at the tell-tale dip near the right side of the graph.

See, most economists make the assertion that any new government change will make a significant loss in the nation's economy. There's nothing new about that. It happens every time we get a new President in the U.S. With the uncertainty in who was to become President in 2000, the dip was a little stronger as first, and then 11 Septeber happened. However, the grapgh shows that the loss was constant in the first eight months of Bush's Presidency, and simply continued at the same pace (NOT as a sharp drop) from the WTC, Pentagon and United Flight 93 attacks. What stoped the drop? Well, again, economists can speculate that great things were at foot, but the best and layman response is simply: war.

The beginning of combat operations in Afghanistan, O.E.F., happened a month after the attacks and the grapgh shows that this slowed but didn't stop the economic drop off. It wasn't until mid 2004 when the growth began. Why?

What happened in May-June 2004 to boost the economy? The 2004 election? Google?

Teacher's Fifth Day.

2006-10-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

I gave the Midterm today. Enough said. The average grade was 41. So with an 82% on the midterm and a 90% on the rest, the midpoint grade for my students is a solid B at 86%. Not too bad for a bunch of hard working students.

My department chair, Chris, interviewed me on how I'm doing with the course and gave me the conversational evaluation of my teaching abilities. She sits in for the first half of my class next Tuesday to see how the class is going and how the students think I am meeting their needs when it comes to teaching them matters of interest on the procedures regarding depth and breadth of knowledge and preparation. Their scores suggest knowledge enough.

We will see if I can maintain this for another seven weeks. I'm in less-than-familiar territory with genitourology, but I think they number of prostatectomies, TURPs & TUR-BTs I've done over the years will get me through to December.

Lazy Sunday: Part 13

2006-10-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

No. THIS is what's at stake, G.O.P.

Photo by NASA

Look at the Logo.

2006-10-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Politics aside; the candidates; campaign slogans, negative advertisements and rhetoric; all combine to become an endless mish-mash of he-said, she-said muckraking and calculated promising. This country's two political parties are much like corporate rivals with the same product. Like most companies’ strategies, when the product seems old and standard to consumers, there's nothing like shaking up the look of the business to get people thinking about the products. After 2000 and 2004, the Democrats needed that and with former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, M.D. behind the desk of Dems. head office, C.E.O. Dean got the ball rolling a few years ago. He started with a look at the two parties’ logos.

You look at the elephant of the G.O.P. and one word comes to mind: solid. Look at it. No movement can be seen in it. It’s an orthodox, steady-as-a-rock, and unmoving symbol. It also shows the opulent, bloated form of that which it represents: grand, old, pride.

Knowing this (as we can only presume that the many, very intelligent men and women that go into political work can be presumed to be,) a comparison with the symbol of the Democratic Party is needed. It also conjures the thought of a featureless, boxy, conventional, and uninspired representation of a group full of the beaten and demoralized.

Then, something happened. Someone looked at the donkey and realized what a pack horse does when its legs are kicked out from under it. It shakes off the fall, gets up, takes on its burden and kicks.

It kicks hard. It kicks out with the force of all its weight, frustration, anger, pleasure and more. It kicks out at the air, the sky, the nearest sound, and the dust. It kicks out ignoring the pain, the pride and even the power that it creates. The donkey is a lean, smooth and powerful animal. The donkey works hard and is smarter than any horse could dream of being. The donkey is not interested in its look so much as its work; but when you look at it the right way, when someone points out it’s wonderful qualities and loyal work ethics, you see it’s a beautiful animal no matter what happens.

This symbol was chosen for these traits. Its loud, well-developed voice can be heard for over three kilometers. They have larger ears than horses or mules. Thank you Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly for both symbols. Kicking a lion in the past, we know now to kick a stagnant feeling in the present… so we can kick on in the future.

A Possible Direction.

2006-10-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

This blog was originally created to keep me writing. Having been in school for so long, I found my desire to read books for pleasure, or solely for my own interest, had been scarce when compared to the multitude of required texts expected of me. This is neither a remarkable or unique experience since I imagine this is what happens to nearly all bibliophile college students.

Since graduating I've dropped some weight and gained some muscle. I'm learning to dance and be a loving husband. My employment is both plentiful and un encumbering. Most of all, I have read, and read, and some more. This summer I had the please of taking in over 20 books and three times that number in periodicals. My list was so long I needed four pieces of paper to write them all. Perhaps my enjoyment and isolation that came from being a college student, insulated me from the Weltschmerz of the world around me, but the reading I've done has more than caught me up with its activities and events. In so doing, this updating inspired me to return to writing without concern of subject or direction. Knowing from my education that the world is a vast and vibrant one, I'm slow to adapt to the idea that the world's gloom and doom propagated so vociferously by pundits is in fact the sole precursor to causality. In other words, I believe now, before I ever took a university course, that my father and kin were right: People are generally about as happy as they wish to be.

Bearing all of this in mind, I am coming to the realization that I'm not quite as happy as I'd like to be. This is true in my work (specifically my current job), my motivations for improving conditions around me, how I interact with others, my physical characteristics, and realizing a legacy in keeping with my moral and ethical standards. In short: I'm ready to do what my motivations are leading me to do.

This is not a country or world in the brink of disaster. It is one full of people with desire and prospect. I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful wife, family and all the other boons mentioned before; and now I'm ready to tackle the greater matters I've thought of in my youth as tremendous.

As I near my 100th post (due to come on the first of November) I will be writing more often about topics about which I feel particular pull. Such issues as the polarization of our country's two-party system, global climate change, space exploration and the privatization of commercial industries looking to capitalize on these matters of international and worldwide interest to name a few. I'm a small-town man from southwestern Oregon. I've lived here nearly my whole life. I don't claim to be someone with deep experience in matters concerning poverty, wealth, influence or social circles. Perhaps it is a lack of these traits that makes me one of the billions on this Earth that can claim expertise. We all share this land and sea and air together, and we will be our own gauge of success or failure in their preservation.

Convenient Truth.

2006-10-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have decided to apply for a trainee position with The Climate Project, an extension of the Al Gore presentation/movie An Inconvenient Truth. The project is aimed at getting volunteers willing to come out and learn how to present the slideshow Mr. Gore does in the film and has for the past decade or so.

At the very least, it’s a great opportunity to see not just how global warming is effecting my generation, but how we are responding to the growing crisis. The application asks, “In approximately 100 words, please describe your background and why you wish to participate:” My response is as follows:

I am a native of the southwest coast of Oregon educated and living in my State’s largest metropolis: Portland. After traveling the country as a medical professional, I can say that Oregon is astounding in its rawness. My home State possesses this country's most vast, natural and beautiful coastline; and I admit my bias openly. With nature as rich and diverse as it is here, a home this lovely is best shared. I ask you to give me the chance to let me bring my open spaces, coastal stretches, small towns, large cities, and passion to your efforts in spreading this most imperative message. Thank you.

The application also asks applicants to list up to five venues where a potential presenter would anticipate giving the lecture, including approximated numbers of attendees. Oregon’s prevalent venues made this an easy answer. The final question was more thought provoking. My answer follows the question:

“What makes you a strong candidate to be chosen for this training program?”

My job affords me the unique opportunity to equitably balance the time I spend with my wonderful wife and family without having to struggle to make ends meet. Given this, I will be capable to put forth a full effort into regionally sharing the message that Mr. Gore, The Climate Project, and other national organizations are endorsing. I have contacts in Portland, Bend, Eugene and other parts of Oregon and Washington that are ready for local conversations about this simple truth: Global changes effect us all.

Dems the Breaks.

2006-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

This evening, in northwest Portland's Montgomery Park building, the Chair of the DNC, Howard Dean, M.D., spoke in support (the general "rally the troops" gathering) of Governor Ted Kulongoski. He was joined by Democratic Congressmen David Wu, Earl Blumenauer, Darleen Hooley, and Senator Ron Wyden. Several of the Oregon State Congressional representatives and senators also stood on the podium including a sharp looking representative candidate for one of Oregon's central Districts who is a Major in the Oregon National Guard. He has been recalled to Afghanistan as it turns out and will be on duty when the elections are held. If THAT isn't a slam dunk for the job, what else would be? He's one to keep an eye on for the future of Oregon politics. After all, why else would Ted and Earl and the gang make certain he's present to meet Dean and the big-wigs?

It was a good night for preaching to the choir. Governor K. was his usual nonchalant self and Dean fired us up with his typical-yet-manic messages from the party, "We're winning in Wyoming, Texas, Utah, and Ohio" to excerpt. "Keep the pressure up for these next three weeks and we'll see a fully Democratic Congress and an agenda that's strong on homeland security, education financing, economic growth, creating jobs, taxation curtailment, and the improving of all American's lives." We'd heard it all before, and cheered wildly nevertheless.

What struck me was my proximity to the gathering, down front and slightly left. I was away from the press (always a preference) but near to the aides of those on stage. They were freverantly jotting down notes on what their own people were saying. Likely preparing for spin-control or improvements for the next gathering. They spoke on Blackberries and Palm-phones. They sent texts and emailed from these handhelds as well with dutiful ease. I thought of the stress they must be under at this time and wondered if they had family, friends or others they saw outside the political landscape. Looking over their hands it seemed clear that they were all in a relationship, with an ass. The DNC was their life. Not one of the groupings of aides had a wedding ring or other mark denoting a relationship. Perhaps it's overly judgmental or I'm wrong to think this as fact, but their looks with fine clothes, expensive gadgets and rapid-scanning style of the amassed crowds (mostly for a gauge on the political acceptance rather than for a tasting of the "who's hot or not" level) backs up my thought that the political world that I have often considered as a potential, future career is not one in which my marriage would survive.

I'd rather not become one of the many politicians that go through a difficult explanation of saving the marriage by saying, "It's only for four years, darling." If that makes me a bad choice, so be it; but my family is foremost important to me, while civic matters are ones I can resign myself to being merely a critic.

Teacher's Fourth Day: 3:00 a.m.

2006-10-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

Despite a fine attempt, soothing warmth from my wife, in conjunction with a cool numbness from porter and good food, my sleep ended this morning at three o'clock. Thinking that there was little more sleep I could undertake, I started my daily routine. Push-ups, sit-ups and weights were followed with a warm shower and a bowl of oatmeal. As I ate, I thought of some further information I wanted to share with my students today in class and promptly wrote them down.

A bit odd, isn't it? To be so ready to go at 3:00 a.m. Having worked so many night shifts, I know that my afternoon will involve a crash of monumental proportions.

The Professor.

2006-10-16T01:57:00.000-07:00

I received an email from one of my oldest friends just yesterday. It returned me to thinking of my hometown, back to when drinking Guinness and sharing hiking trail stories were the greatest of day to day burdens. Albert Goche has been a steadfast comrade throughout my youth and adulthood. His loves for brewing fine beers, reading, researching history, learning new skills and exploring the unexplored are second only to his deep-rooted understanding that everyone has the makings for peace within them. His schooling at Lane will certainly lead to a long career as a university history professor. He and Ken Aldrich are simply amazingly, brilliant men.

His 30th birthday was a few week ago and I will be making up for the missing of it with this, a letter, a new book, a beer and shot of Irish whiskey, a visit with my wife and this acknowledgement:

Al is the living embodiment of what Professor J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." The end is folly if, when your travels are at an end, you find yourself alone, having met many but befriended few or none, or regretful of the journey you have undertaken for your whole life. Al has done much and will continue to do so for many years to come. I can only hope that I may do half as well as he.

Sláinte. Breithlá sona duit, Al. Síochán leat.

Lazy Sunday: Part 12

2006-10-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

"I've come to believe that anyone can become anything at all.

Which puts nothing at the bottom of the list."

- Patch Perryman, letter to a friend 2005

Fold.

2006-10-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Poker, like politics, is a matter best suited to the individual who can act as both honest broker and liar.

Poker is similar to investing in the stock market. It takes planning, maintaining a strategy and execution.

Poker take practice, insight and luck.

Poker is almost illegal to play on the internet in the United States thanks to Congress.

Poker remains the gold-rush "sport" of the early 21st century.

Poker, poker, poker.

Cut & Course.

2006-10-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Our leaders, through the want or desire they hold within themselves, use only what power and capability they are given or have come to obtain through persuasion to fulfill their aspirations. President Bush's press conference two days ago was not an address from the Nation's leader. Nor was it an articulated assessment from the governmental bodies on current events. It was an opportunist’s summoning. Rather than tell the people, whom he has sworn to represent, of the best policy in foreign affairs, military action, debt reduction, economic growth or showing concern for those people he has never known, President Bush attacked the political party that opposes his own in a bid to place them in a shadowy image. For shame.

Edward R. Murrow's 1958 address says it all for me. The media is no longer reporting the news. It is a body meant for exploitation of our desires to further those of our leaders. Indeed, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars; but in ourselves." -J. C.

How Easily We Forget.

2006-10-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

My mother's birthday will be Saturday. Her 65th. Though I have never forgotten it since I was young enough to remember the 14th of October, I find myself forgetting all the trouble we've gone through since Dad and G. Dode lived with us. Their progressive illnesses. The meals we prepared. Fighting the same old fights over and over and over again until we couldn't stand it any longer. All of it comes back around this time of the year. Autumn nears and the season's harvest means family, closeness and reaching out to those with whom you've lost touch. Perhaps it's time I forget some of the things that I've been holding as grudge. Perhaps it's time to unite family again. All the more important to do just such a thing before my mother's 70th. Her 75th. Her 80th. On and on.

I can forgive some of the others in the family for their transgressions. It remains to be seen if I can forget them on behalf of fullfilling my family's needs for closure. This will only come from finally having me say to my estranged cousins and uncle, "Explain what happened at my wedding," before I tell them, "Welcome back."

We Do As We Can.

2006-10-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

So much to write about. After a full day of teaching I think I'll stay simple and plain.

Taking the bus, I've remarked in the past, is a wonderful event in character creation for any would-be writer. The young girl, engrossed with a novel, sits alone to my left. A tattoo of the letters "JSR" in black London font are displayed on her upper arm. An elder woman sits in the aisle-facing seat before me, kitting needles feverishly working yarn into a cable knit. I could sit for hours here and never stop describing what was around me. But this ride is not immortal, and neither are these characters.

After a while, I enter Powell’s on Burnside for a sit, coffee and new environment to write what I see. I strike up conversation with a 20-something girl who tells me she's moved to Portland only two weeks earlier. She transferred here from San Diego to attend the Art Institute in the Pearl District and lives out in Beaverton with friends. "I really like this town," she tells me, "but I haven't been here long enough to see a lot of it yet." I play ambassador for a moment and explain a bit about how the city is four quadrants split by Burnside Avenue and the Willamette River. I tell her some of the proper pronunciations of street names and locations in the city, nicknames, and giver her a few titles to read that may help her enjoy Stumptown a little further. She seems genuinely grateful, if not perplexed that a stranger would be so forthcoming without looking for reciprocity. "I love my home State, is all. I'd rather be diplomatic than isolationist."

We do as we can, after all. I expect that most everyone, everywhere would agree when it came down to thinking about it. The bus, the bookstore, the bizarre.

Teacher's Third Day.

2006-10-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

This is sight, my third lecture and now I am down from 16 to 13 students. I believe this will not end here as a few others show signs of uncertainty in the career choice surgical technology constitutes.

It is my duty to show them the matters they will need to know in order to work in this role and share my experiences wholy so they have no false impressions of the job. Their responce, wavering or not, is one of wide-eyed interest. I made connections with them all today, just by being myself. That's something for which I will have to receive credit from the directors of this program. What I have no idea about, is from where this insight came. It is more than just wanting to be treated the same way. This is some ideal that is deeper rooted in me than a 100 year old oak might enjoy in the earth. Perhaps I am a teacher after all.

Happenstance.

2006-10-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

A weekend of complete madness was my reward for the three shifts I do every Friday night to Monday morning. Perhaps its the lack of variety in what I do. Maybe it’s the baffling actions that a few, select coworkers routinely display. Whatever it is that makes me see my employment choice as merely a tool for paying bills, I’d rather think better of it. Such as being the big step forward I'd taken to advance from where I was before moving North. Hard to think that a job at a teaching hospital is getting old, but I’m taking it for granted and it’s pathetic to admit such a truism. There’s better and worse than this, dear Sir. Suck it up or pass it off. There are others more interested in what I do than I am. This was no coincidence.

Lazy Sunday: Part 11

2006-10-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

I know I've used a lot of space photos lately, but that's perhaps due to the marvelous discoveries and opportunities the world's space administrations have recently made? Here's one more Opportunity that's been cashed in on, a photo of the rover by the Mars Global Orbiter as it rounds the 1/2 mile diameter Victoria Crater.

Photo by NASA

Copperfield's Shadow.

2006-10-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

Today I've procrastinated a bit too much. My list of duties to complete has already doubled since yesterday and I'm finding it hard to get motivated to complete them all.

Aside from shoring up the lengthy new lecture for Tuesday covering open and laparoscopic GYN procedures, I have a letter to write to Todd and Sara asking them about Thanksgiving in Stumptown, a physician assistant application statement or two to write, two nights more of work at OHSU, and more to read in the newspaper and novel areas of my life. Add to this time that I enjoy spending with my wife and dog and it's a wonder I can still write my blog. Which is another matter I am amazed by.

With this entry I have written every single day for the past 75 days. Tomorrow is my eleventh Lazy Sunday photo op and I'm still finding things that are interesting and fresh to write about. Despite all that I may complain about, politics, job, writing, I know there is far worse that I could be doing, having or being. There is little room for complaints when so many more have things so much worse than I ever could imagine, I feel lucky to know that this has been a great venture into returning to the art I've enjoyed as a youth. The novel gets better, the letters get longer, the entries are stronger, my heart gets lighter, my hope gets greater. And just like that, procrastination is a thing of the past.

Time to get to the list and be done with it.

Where America Meets the World.

2006-10-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Smartest show on television currently is Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria.

He's a smart, savvy journalist who interviews prominent, intelligent men and women from around the world, whose expertise or experiences are unique to the topic at hand. Whether that topic is globalization, poverty, economics, foreign & domestic policies, or human interest, questions are neither shallow nor egotistical. Guests and Mr. Zakaria speak eloquently with real interest in holding an open discussion as well as finding answers to the questions that matter most to both layman and policymaker.

My advice to you: Watch this show, and grow. It's on public television, Friday evenings.

Coffee Talk.

2006-10-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Beat generation enthusiasts would be rolling in the deep graves they never would have expected to become shrines were they to see what the "tea-rooms" and their countless denizens have become in the early 21st century. The once hipster den of antimaterialism, now reduced to the market of capitalist opportunity, have continued their decline into transforming the level of dependency on a substance as grounding as coffee by universalizing the services around it. In other words, coffee shops are soon to be all Starbucks.

Coffee People joined the list of fallen java soldiers like Torrefazone, Seattle's Best and Peets when it was announced a few weeks back that over 30 stores in the PNW would be sold to the Seattle megacorp. Indy shops are few and far between, and while the quality of these stores remains high, their consumer bases remain low and lower daily due to the proximity of quickie-shops to their businesses. I find solace in one staple of the power of small business, that the people who really care about it will continue to care no matter the opposition. Today, my wife and I continued to prove that with our activities.

Lisa was invited to a little shop on Hawthorne and 42nd called The Daily Grind by a couple of her coworkers. She doesn't drink coffee, but with her shyness in making friends this was a complete win for her (coffee drinker or not).

I had the chance to head to my little shop in Sellwood, the Ugly Mug. Prepared to write and expand my novel idea, as well as complete the touches on my student's Midterm exam and third quiz, I sat to start writing with a fresh, double mocha in reach. After a while I noticed the other computer users in the cafe speaking in turn to the barista. Seems the Wi-Fi was out, but I'd been too busy writing to notice. Then, the most amazing thing happened. Because there was no connection to the interweb, one-by-one people packed up their computers, schloshed down their java and hit the road. As new customers entered, ordered and sat, they too, upon being informed of the lack of Wi-Fi, followed suit to drink up and leave.

People spend a lot of cash (thousands) on their computers for more than just the connection to the internet. Now, when the cafes are one service less than desired, people leave. I could not believe that everyone was so incapable of enjoying themselves, so I stopped to talk to an older gentleman sitting near me with a newer MacBook. He was a retired respiratory tech, caring for his ailing mother and returning to school for his degree (intending to go to PSU he says!) What a wonderful forty-five minute conversation we had.

No internet, no worries, no need for computers, but we shared ideas, opinions, pictures of family and art. Beat never had it so good.

Op-Ed.: Midterms.

2006-10-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Constant listening to the evening news, reading of the journals, newspaper and internet, all of this can wear down even the greatest of optimists. In so doing, I write this week's opinion-editorial on the midterm election's greatest topic of all: the Iraq War. Sound off:

It is a majority of my generation’s age group that fights in the military today. They take their orders from those born of the generation that composed the majority of soldiers sent to Vietnam. They were, of course, sent there by politicians aged within the Greatest Generation, who were themselves children of The Great War. From this lineage, a pattern is difficult to overlook; but that does not stop people from trying. Especially those whom are looking more toward their personal future than to one that encompasses soldier, citizen and servant alike.

No matter how contiguous this looks, I cannot overlook the time-proven fact that violence brings further violence. Instead of listening to our past our nation’s leaders prove, time and again, that they would rather spend their time employed rationalizing their mediocre positions. Standpoints such as to how best to commemorate the fallen soldiers abroad. By defining the importance as to why they are sent to fight? With tragic reports of ambushes diminished to anecdotal tales to draw attention to the gravity of a quaint legislative action? Instead of fully appreciating the brazen choice made by a multitude of U.S. citizens to wear the uniform and to serve their country with integrity and honor, politicians today (old enough to have served in Vietnam) sling muck with odious mottos like “adapt-to-win” and “cut-and-run”. It sickens me in a manner that no therapy can fully cure.

It seems to me that this generation, gentlemen and ladies of public service, understand their duties clearly and fully. If you comprehend yours’ as wholly, you will take the blunt words of this generally humble man and form a strong opinion that the truest, and most adequate tribute to those that have fallen now and past, is the same as what you had asked for in your time. It is the same tribute as your parents had hoped for you a generation before: equip them with the finest of things, bring them home soon and safely, and honor their service with opportunities aplenty. This is the strategy, against which terror can never prevail; and that no politician can refute as partisan. Ignore it, and we shall surely repeat the process in generations to come.

Teacher's Second Day.

2006-10-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

This day was not so bad, but I had my first student-teacher confrontation. Best to get these things out of the way early to know who's looking to make waves versus learn; but this was not the case at all. What I learned today is this:

1. Not all students want help. By making all the journal entries for the students the assigning them randomly with the option to switch before the end of class, I thought I was doing them a favor. They have so much homework to do, and with clinicals, write-ups and such, adding a written report over a journal article is another hassle an already organizational anarchy. However, some rebelled at the idea that this was assigned to them versus something they could look up on their own. I could understand that logic. Best to just let the student do their own thing then, I suppose. However, my instinct is to make this nothing they could avoid. Procrastination is so easily involved in programs such as these because there's so much to learn. I told the one or two that had issues that if they don't like their articles, they could bring one to me for approval. Otherwise, write and be done with it.

2. Make the slides simpler, but with more test material on them. They look at these the most, use that to your advantage... and theirs.

There's a lot to the job of teaching. I have already discovered a great deal that letting the students come to me as equally as I come to them is the best way to look at the process of teaching. One of the other instructors insists that teachers are not meant to be the friends of their students. In some sense I understand that stance. It removes the biases that can be created when friendship and mentorship differ. However, these are not just students taking a course to complete requirements for e greater purpose. The course I teach is the core area of information and practical knowledge needed to perform well in their future careers. More importantly, these students are my future colleagues. How I treat them now, will reflect on what they think of the profession we will all do later in life.

Respect shown now will last in them so long as they work as surgical technologists. Perhaps my co-instructors know this at heart, but I doubt they reflect this truth based on their open considerations toward the students.

Another learning point for the new teacher.

Fred & Ginger.

2006-10-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are taking dancing lessons for the next several weeks on Monday nights. This is one of those things that I would have expected we'd do when we hit 40 or 50-something. However, since I'm no longer as into Monday Night Football since Todd left for Vegas, and I love my wife as much as I do, I'm down with the idea of a dance class like this. Learning the Fox Trot, Lindy, Waltz, Rhumba, Samba and others now, while we're young, can become something we'll do together for years to come. There will be time for football, as the years progress. For now, the time I spend with my wife matters more than down by five, 4th and goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation. A good dance with my wife in a rec. center is my touchdown celebration.

Lazy Sunday: Part 10

2006-10-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by NASA

"My trip is coming to an end but my dreams have just started."

-Anousheh Ansari aboard the I.S.S. on 28 September 2006

Illness in the House.

2006-09-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

Lisa's got a sore throat so she's likely calling it a week a day early. My old Jeep's better now that the exhaust manifold has been replaced. This "patch" will shore it up for at least another year or so. After that, I'll have to either get a new engine or vehicle. We'll see.

As for me, I need rest and a moment of peace. I feel like I've been run down by a freight train, and the pressure's getting to me some. Yet it is nothing comparative to the struggles of so many more with so much less. When I think like this, I remember what I have and not what I have not.

Advice I would hand to anyone else, and what I tell my wife while, at the same time, I tend to her and make her feel better.

Fingerpointing.

2006-09-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

New information in the form of a new book entitled State of Denial by Washington Post reporter and editor Bob Woodward lashes out at the Bush Administration detailed in an online article on MSBNC today.

This will have an effect on the midterm elections without a doubt. Even more of one that the outlashings between the Clinton Gang and the Bush Horde. When will all of this "I (did what I could / am doing what I can) about Osama bin Laden" go away? After all, according to an unsubstanuated report in a French newspaper suggested that bin Laden died a month ago from typhoid after a complication from his kidney disease.

Way to work together, fellahs.

Wandering Words.

2006-09-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm usually quite assiduous over my writing style. As of late I have relaxed my typical prose while I pontificate on other matters. You see, I've been reading again.

I'll have a great deal more to write about after this book ends and the first few power point presentations for my class. Patience, dear readers. The corollary writings will return once my alternate attentions diminish.

Calling All Generalists.

2006-09-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

This report from MSNBC states that by the year 2020, five states surveyed by American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) will show a serious shortfall in primary care practitioners. A main reason why this is occurring is due to more graduates of medical programs are "preferring [to work in] specialties that pay better and offer more control over work hours." The summary and complete reports can be found here.

With less generalists than what will be required to balance the demand, this gap will expand and deepen, leaving other health professional programs and practitioners to fill that crevice (i.e.: physician assistants, nurse practitioners, midwives and naturopaths.) Now's the time to make my push for P.A. school.

Teacher's First Day

2006-09-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Learning is really a matter of good time management. If you take the time to observe everything around you, the interactions of other people, how people keep their homes, language use, the opportunities to learn from them are miraculous. Today was my first day of learning as a teacher, and I think I passed the quiz with at least a B+.

Despite attempting to be open with my students about the potential way to have breaks (trying to change the scheduled class outline to having a 1:40 lecture then a 1½° lunch period rather than :50 lecture, :10 break, lunch, repeat), my best intensions were squashed by the program director after the other lecture instructor was informed of this idea. Simply put, I walked over the line with an idea. Hardly could this be considered surprising or awe-striking to those whom know me, but it does show the potential of where this Tuesday event of mine may lead should the powers-that-be decide more for their methodology on teaching than my interpretation.

Still, this is my first time teaching, and for those around me it is another term in which potentially harrowing repercussions are more present than ever. Budget cuts, a lack of bond funds and the anticipated site visit by the accreditation agency CAAHEP have obviously made everyone much more on-edge than the norm. I understand entirely and defer to their logic. However, I learned something from my father some time in the past: by pushing hard at the onset of any endeavor requiring initiative and a lack of subtlety, the forces in resistance will eventually offer an equal an opposing force .This is generally a sustained force over time and expends a great deal of energy to maintain. Whereas the immediate burst of power and subsequent ease to maintain equal force or slightly less than what is being expended in resistance, makes the initiator’s role simple.

I plan to teach my way, within the rules. All the while I can learn what can be done correctly and what can be done to keep the “rules of teaching” slightly bent.

Always the Student.

2006-09-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I am a teacher.

Which means I get to study even harder than all the students combined will.

My presentations, lectures, pictures and information will have to be spot-on.

I can't wait to see what I'm made of.