Done with head and neck, blog migration

Sorry for the recent inactivity! I've been occupied by head and neck block final studying! Finally done though, and it already feels like it's break!!

I probably won't post again until winter break, since blogger is kind of being annoying. It seems like looping script is popping up on random post pages (I apologize to anyone who's had their browser crash because of my blog!). I think the problem's from the intensedebate commenting system, but I'm not sure... Facebook connect is disabled right now because I thought that that was the root of the problem, but apparently not!

I'm considering moving over to a paid hosting service, installing wordpress, and starting the site code from scratch (hopefully migrating all of the old posts of course). If anyone has suggestions for any good webhost that they've had a good experience with in the past, please let me know! Anything cheap and reliable will be fine. I'm not running anything crazy on the site.

Be back in a little bit!

Spending time in the Word

I've come across multiple discussions in the past few weeks about the value of spending time in God's Word. Here are some verses that I believe speak very clearly about where our hearts should be with regards reading and knowing scripture and its benefits.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. -Psalm 19:7-9

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. -2 Timothy 3:16-17 

like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation -1 Peter 2:2

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming -Ephesians 4:13-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the  mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. -Hebrews 5:12-14

"If you love Me, you will keep my commandments. -John 14:15

Feel free to cite more in the comments and I'll add them to the post!

Primary Care Preceptorship (PCP) Sessions 1, 2, & 3

I'm been meaning to write a post about my experience so far from my primary care preceptorship sessions, but I kept procrastinating. Tomorrow, I actually have an assignment due for ECM for which I'm asked to write a one page reflection about what I've seen and learned from my PCP sessions, so I figured, 'Hey! Good time to do the post I've been pushing back!"

Anyways, as I said earlier, I've had 3 sessions so far. It's basically a chance for us as students to get a glimpse of the daily interactions between a physician and his patients. Although as students we are distributed to many different offices of many different medical specialties, the point is not to expose us to specific areas of medicine, but to allow us to observe, and hopefully get a chance to practice, effective communication and interactions between the physician and the patient.

I've been assigned to a physician who specializes in infectious disease and currently practices at an HIV clinic. He sees patients in his office, many of which have been returning for many years, and checks up on them to see if they have been taking their medication and to gauge the effectiveness of each patient's regimen.

I can't say that I necessarily enjoy the sessions, especially since I've been assigned to an off-site clinic and these visits cut into study time, but I have definitely been able to see the value in them and appreciate them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Take some time to remind yourself of all the ways in which God has blessed you and how he continues to do so! God provides us with so many earthly provisions each day, whether it be food, shelter, and even many other surplus things! However, remember to fix your heart on our one and only God who provides these to us and not on the earthly riches themselves, for they provide no certainty whatsoever.

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. - 2 Timothy 6:17

Have a great evening and break from work or school!

Cooking Tip: Bacon in the oven

I decided to make a bacon egg sandwich today! I usually have a hard time getting my bacon to be crispy. I've tried pan-frying bacon at high heat, which is a bad idea because it burns before most of the fat is cooked off, so as a result, the outside is burnt and the inside is still too fatty and moist. I've also tried pan frying the bacon on low-medium heat, but the bacon still ended up soggy because it'd just end up swimming in it's own fat. I read somewhere that you're supposed to continually pour off the melted fat as to prevent the bacon from re-soaking it in, resulting in soggy bacon. This was really hard to do. How are you supposed to drain oil out of the pan when you still have all the bacon on it?

Anyways, today I decided to try baking my bacon. I placed the bacon on top of a baking rack and placed it on a baking pan covered with foil (easier to clean!). I baked the bacon at 400F for 15min, and to my surprise, the bacon came out crispy and not burnt! So, if you're a fan of crisp bacon, this is one way to do it!

Time Management

Time. Most people feel like they manage it inadequately. A popular prayer request is for "better time management." Why do people always feel like they're bad at time management? Do we all have so much to do that unless we carefully plan out each day in the most efficient way possible, we won't be able to get everything done?

I'll speak from my own experience. I definitely have a lot of time each day. Yes. Even as a medical student. Say I sleep for 6 hours (that's probably not enough for a lot of people, but I believe I can adequately get through the day with 6 hrs). I have about 6 hours of class + 1 hour of lunch each day. 1 hour for dinner. That leaves about 10 free hours left for each day. If I studied 10 hours each day, reviewing the day's material and perhaps pre-reading for the next day, I would most likely feel very ready before the next exam (or I would hope so!). However, this is definitely not that case. When it's weeks before an exam, I don't study even close to 10 hours each day, and once it's days before the exam, I sometimes feel like I'm running out of time!

Why is that?? Did I somehow mismanage my time? I honestly don't think I have a lack of it, so that's not the problem. Of course, my free hours aren't all dedicated to studying. Time is set aside for short naps, devotionals, and of course, working on this blog (and just dinking around on the web).

I think for one thing, it's hard for me to get motivated to study very diligently weeks in advance of an exam like I would a few days before exam day because there is very little immediate gratification to anticipate or experience. It's easy to get immediate gratification from looking for and watching entertaining YouTube videos, or playing a few games of StarCraft.

New Museum, New York

Looking for something to do in the city this weekend since it'll probably be the only "free" weekend we'll have before the work starts picking up again, we decided to go visit the New Museum. It's the only museum in Manhattan dedicated to contemporary art.

The museum consists of five stories, each filled with art pieces of very minimalistic and clean presentation. I really liked the architecture and design of the museum itself, especially since I really enjoy working on design work of my own and keep up with a lot of web design trends. I have to admit though, for a lot of the pieces presented there, I questioned the qualifications for what determined what got to be presented there and what didn't. Sometimes it seemed like it probably took more thought to come up with the blurb about the work than to complete the work itself, but I guess in this type of context, the blurb, or motivation and philosophy behind a work is the main part of the work itself.

Does an extravagant or profound philosophy behind a specific piece actually add value to the piece itself? Does it aid the piece in serving a greater or more effective purpose? Is it possible to have a piece that, without an articulated philosophy or motivation, cease to have a purpose?