the future is looking bright

Lots of things to look forward to in the future my friend. World Cup sounds good. I wish I could've been there when they had it in korea/japan. Damn...that must've been crazy. Those krazy koreans. Anyhow, I feel the same way about us getting a box to watch the lakers play. It'll be good. Maybe not so soon cuz we be po, but in the near future.

On a sidenote, I change my mind about Iowa being cold. Iowa isn't cold. Michigan is cold. It's the bone chilling kind of cold where you have to duck into a store, even though you've got layers upon layers on. The natives are saying that it's been cool as of late. The winter is just beginning. Seriously, I don't know if I want to know what the winter is like when the blizzards and lake effect hit. Anyhow, Ann Arbor is a nice town. It's like a nicer, cleaner, more upscale version of berkeley. There are still of small shops and co-ops around, but it doesn't have the grimy feel of certain parts of berkeley, no offense intended. Anyhow, we'll see how it goes with my time with the wolverines. I've gotta say though, I'll be a buckeye fan until the day I die. They gave me my first shot at getting a MD, a shot at my lifelong dream, and I'll always be grateful.

-bender

p.s. I talked a sap into trading me tyson chandler for mehmet okur. haha.

Video Games, and World Cup, and stuff

So, I feel hung over, except I didn't drink, in fact I did something much much much worse, I stayed up until 4am playing Winning Eleven. You know, I do love my madden, I love my 2k sports... but there is something about Wining Eleven that just brings out a crazy addiction in me. I guess it's that quarter Italian blood in me, it JUST craves to come out. Kinda funny how its not the 3/4 mexican in me dying to come out, NOPE... it's the Italian. Mostly cuz I never liked the way Mexico plays soccer, they are like the CFL to me and Europe is like the NFL.

Ok so back to my addiction.... yeah, spent 4 hours learning to master the shooting and dribbling techniques. I don't think I've ever played a game so advanced and so meticulous. It's one of those games, you can't even come close to winning unless you've put effort into it. You have to know about soccer and actually know how to put PLAYS together. Yes, I'm sure most futbol fans don't know but there are set plays involved in the sport. It's not just 10 guys running around trying to kick a ball in the goal.

Which brings me back to my nonoriginal point, after this upcoming world cup, the next one.... we are going to it Bender, and no amount of bullshit will spare you. I don't care if your firstborn child is scheduled to be born, you bring your expecting lady and have her wait in the room if you have to, but we are going to the world cup. I passed up Germany because of Jenn, but nothing is stopping me from the next one, well not the next one cuz it's in S. Africa and I'm scared of that entire continent, every single HORRIBLE disease and virus I can think of originated there, so I mean the one after that. I'm hoping Toronto gets it, that'd be cool to visit, but we'll see.

I hope you know I'm dead serious about this, We're going to the World Cup, and this isn't the first time I've told you, so don't act surprised. So start saving right now, cuz I have a hidden savings account that is just for this and I hope to have like 7-8K saved up for this trip by the time it comes, which will be in about 7 years. But the way the dollar is going, I'll have to have like 15K if I want to have a good time, especially if it's in Europe, fucking Euro. Ok, nevermind... it's going to be in Brazil, sounds good. We're going...

Anyways, don't buy Winning Eleven, cuz you probably don't have the time to learn or appreciate it, I don't and I'm losing sleep cuz of it.

so wasted...

I'm sitting in an airport in Illinois, nursing a serious hangover. Yesterday I interviewed at Iowa university. Iowa seriously is a gorgeous place. I got to drive over the mississippi river, and I've got to say that it's fucking big. Iowa is flat. Driving around feels like the drive on the 5 when you're driving between northern and southern california. I guess it has a lot more trees and lots of cute little houses along the say. It's pretty freaking cold, but I hear it's supposed to get a lot colder.

I apologize for making you read this joe. I'm taking notes more to help myself remember/choose programs, more than anything else. Just jotting down my thoughts. Iowa is an amazing program. It's one of the few programs that has everything covered. Awesome faculty and residents. Old school surgical training - the good kind. They eschew kits and easy fixes. Awesome research, one of the few places where the residents do a full year of bench research. I was blown away, but I got the sense they weren't impressed with my california-ness and didn't believe that I'd be willing to live out in iowa. Nobody believes me when I say sac-town's only claim to fame is arnold and it's driving proximity to SF and tahoe. The party scene in iowa is pretty crazy. ah...the beauty of big 10 schools. Anyhow, after the interview, I went out with some guys I've been traveling the interview trail with and we were all hammered by 4pm. Happy hour in the midwest is cheap and the beers are ridiculously large. They make brits look sober. seriously...eventually, I sobered up enough to drive to my motel 6 across the street from the po man's airport.

Next stop on the Magical Mystery Tour: University of Michigan.

-bender

dis...

aw man...I just got my reviews back from ER. Man...I suck at ER.

Comments on my evals:

He likes learning, but seems to need help on bedside “people” skills. He should work on less note-taking and work harder on listening and talking with his pts.


Darn. oh well, anyhow I just got back from an interview at the one community program on the west coast. If I had a family and wanted to go into private practice, this would be a dream job. The residents get most weekends off, great benefits, excellent hours to study and moonlight - many double their salary, good clinical experience. The only problem is, it's harder to break into academics from a community program. Why I am so bent on academics, I don't know. whatever. On the plus side, I knew half of the guys at the interview already, so it was fun hanging out with the guys + 1 gal. That's the best part of these interviews. There are only 100 or so people interviewing for the same spots, so it's like a big party at interviews. It's only a matter of picking which bar to go to when we meet up at different cities. Anyhow, the saga continues.

-bender

Life is good...

I'm taking the calendar year off to interview. The interview days are brutal, but the others are pretty sweet. I'm crashing with the folks while I do my southern california interviews. On my off days, I've been working out, surfing the web at the library, eye-balling a pair of converse sneakers I've been wanting and catching up on some reading. I've been reading a lot of the books I read in grade school...lots of Gary Paulsen. I'm probably too much of a city slicker to really relate, but it's nice reading about cold winters on the warm, sitting by the stove, getting lost in the woods and all that good stuff. Brushing up on ma Jhumpa Lahiri - she really is an amazing writer. Interpreter of Maladies is quite a doozy. She does an excellent job of catching the silences and the subtle sadness/loneliness/homesickness that's really ineffable, but I guess not since she was able to capture it. Anyhow, I'm chilling. Have 7 more interviews to go, but I already have a pretty good idea of where I want to go.

This is where I wanna be
Right here with my loved ones
Smokin on some weed
You got chronic why don't you light it up

DOGG POUND!!! If you've heard the song, you know what I'm talking about.

-bender is feeling good.

here

check out my team and it's layout.. I've been killing everyone and seem to be solid through and through.

Fantasy Hoops

It's that time of year again. Yo, Joe. Any recs. Zbo scores and rebounds, but his percentages are killing me. Trade him for okafor? haha. I wish. I just picked up sean williams, but we'll see if his blocks keep up. Boris Diaw is playing like a little bitch. He gets the minutes, but I'm not seeing production. Should I grab a new FA like mo peterson or try to trade him? I just got ron-ron for lamar odom...i'm thinking it was a good trade cuz I need the steals, but we'll see. Yea, hook a brotha up.

-bender

Time Marches on...

For whom the bell tolls...

What a great song. Anyhow, the interview season marches on. I had my interview at Loma Linda this past Friday.

In general, it's gotten to the point where all the programs look the same. They all have good faculty and staff, good operative experience and the residents in general seem pretty happy. A lot of it is about where you'd fit in and be happy. Anyhow, I rolled in for my interview around 6am. After hopping back and forth across the country, I was freaking tired. I went to the cafeteria for a cup of joe. All they had were two big pots of decaf...those darn 7th day adventists. What a cruel joke. Anyhow, the day went by ok. On a sidenote, it's funny watching people on interview. Initially, everyone looks nice in their suits and stuff, but it becomes immediately apparent who is used to dressing up and who isn't. Case in point. There was a nice, but rather husky russian gal in a skirt. She walked, talked and sat like a man. Nothing wrong with that, but you don't want to be leaving a sharon stonesque impression when you're interviewing at a highly religious institution...or do you?

My impression:
Facilities: 4 - nice to work in a university, county and VA hospital.
Faculty: 3.5 - generally very nice. No full time peds faculty member.
Residents: 3.5 - easy to get along with. They seemed pretty happy.
Location: 3 - san bernardino mountains and riverside. If you're from LA, you know what I mean. I mean, they don't even have santa's village anymore.
General gestalt: solid program.

On a side note, it's kind of weird going into urology. Seriously. Once my dad's friends in church found out I was going into urology, they kept asking me questions about their problems with urination and their prostate. You know, sometimes a man just wants to eat his sunday turkey in peace. Oh well. I guess now that I'm being placed in a position where I can help others, I've kinda got to resist the temptation to only help myself.

-bender

Where am I now?

So, it's been roughly 2 months since I moved to Seattle.

2 months of being a bum, seriously, my girlfriend got a job in 3 weeks, and me... I took 2 months. WHAT THE HELL is my problem? Well anyways, I finally did it. Snagged me a job.

It's funny, I took a low paying teaching assistant position at a private cooking school. Had the nice Chef's Assistant title, which is like a sous chef. It means, second big dawg. Except I really wasn't, I was like bitch of that place. All so I can work with Chef's who sometimes think they are divas (promised I would never name them) and do the most despicable things ever. Some shit was so insane, I mean... I have a fucking degree in comp sci... and I did... bah forget it, I'll mention it on my wedding night. Wait? Does the groom get to talk or is it only the best man? Anways, after being a bitch I finally got to take advantage of WHY I did it.

I used those (use your favorite word here) and used them totally for my advantage. After turning down crap jobs, and so-so jobs, I finally got to name drop and snag me a nice little gig. Sure it's bad, but you know what, taking other peoples crap so I can say I worked with them, learned from them... that's what it's about in my business. In medicine maybe it's about working at a certain hospital, doing research under some crazy Doctor and getting some breakthrough published and shattering all the expectations in certain fields. Me, let's but it bluntly, I fucking cook, so the best I can do is say I learned from the best and can work a kitchen like it's nobody's business.

Anyways, it worked, convinced someone I was capable of running a restaurant and a catering department of a hotel. It was funny though, I was nervous as hell, second interview... best part is I originally applied for a Catering Administrator/Sales position, next thing I know.. I'm getting called back for a second interview with the GM of the Hotel and he's making me an offer I can't believe, understand, or turn down. Now the catch is, at the end he tells me... just walk the walk...

WOW, no stress here. Guy who runs 8 hotels tells me that, kinda keeps me up at night. Sure I'm no bender, no lives are in my hands, but seriously... my head is wrapping around this. Did my chef's think this highly of me when they called for my references? If so, I take back the diva's comment I made to Kim during dinner.

Also, WTF, had to go get some slacks and shirts and ties. I didn't realize being a boss meant dressing differently, I was like... hmm, where's my chef coat at, then Kim is telling me, I need more slacks and I'm like, oh shit... WTF, I'm old and shit now, dressing like my dad and stuff. How weird is that... PAUL, in a suit... I laugh cuz I think I look hilarious.


"Time to play god"
Iron Man World War Hulk #3

Cuz I'm lame and your tame,
Joe

The interview season has officially started

Wow, I haven't blogged in the longest time. I'll try to catch up on what's been going on for the past month or so. I'm pretty worn out. I had 24 interviews this week alone and have more this Friday...ugh.

Going back...back in time.

This past month I got to finish my ER rotation. I realized one thing, I can't stand ER medicine. The notion of 12 hour shifts sounds ok, but it's terrible. It's the anti-surgery. There is a whole lot of sitting around with nothing to do. On other rotations, you're busy and put in a lot of hours, but you don't really realize it. Sure, you're tired at the end of the day, but the goal of the day is to get stuff done and take care of your patient. You leave when that stuff gets done. On ER, I literally counted the minutes going by because it's really about putting in 12 hours. It isn't about actually doing something for the patient. You make 'em stable, then you either send them home or call someone else to take care of them. Not my thing.

Review of my past interviews.

OHSU - Hisbiscus, you've gotta go to this place. You know what I'm talking about. It's perfect for you. It has this amazingly beautiful hospital on the top of a cliff. The buildings are connected by long sky bridges and by sky trams/gondolas that afford you a beautiful view of the city. The city proper is surrounded by rivers, the buildings are LED platinum. Everyone is active more or less, lots of biking, running, kayaking, fresh fruit and good stuff. The air is clean. The mountains are nearby. Lots of feel good stuff. The staff is super supportive, the residents in general are a little bit older and very happy. The only bad part was, I stayed in the bad part of town in order to save a few bucks. If you cross the bridge over to the east side of town, it gets super shady. I stayed at a motel 6 that was about 100 feet away from a strip club superstore. It was rocking all night and motorcycle gangs rolled by until 3 am.

Score: (1-5)
Residents: older and happy. Get along well. 4
Staff: Awesome. 4+
Surgical volume: 4
Facilities: 5
Portland: 4

Emory - It was a rough interview day. 13 back to back interviews. I got grilled, almost to the point of antagonism about why I wanted to come out to Georgia. I never realized how awesome Atlanta was. A downtown proper with lots of skyscrapers. The leaves were changing color and the homes were beautiful. A huge vibrant Korean community, although I must admit that I got some looks around certain parts of town that let me know that I wasn't white. On the plus side, waffle house is awesome and I had the best ribs of my entire life at Fat Matt's Rib Shacks. Thanks for the recs SB.

Score:
Residents: Awesome. young, get along well, work hard. 4
Staff: Awesome teaching 4
Facilities: 4 - concern, may lose their county hospital. Awesome VA experience.
Research: 2 No dedicated research time
Atlanta: 4
General Gestalt: Great fit for me.

Rochester - The day was rough, another 11 interviews, some with multiple staff members. The dinner here was awesome. I got wine and dined like nobody's business. What struck me was I saw something here that I've never seen anywhere else. In general, surgical residents almost universally complain about wasting time in clinic doing pre-ops. This place is a surgeon's dream. On some of the rotation, the only patient contact they have with their patients is when they walk into the OR, the patient is asleep and draped and the last they see of their patients is their sleepy bodies being rolled out of the ER. It really is a true surgeon's dream. It concerns me...the clinic is the bread and butter of my chosen field. It really is extremely important to be able to handle those things and pacify difficult patients. I have no doubts about surgical skills, but I do have to express my concerns about developing my clinical judgment.

Score:
Residents: 4 great guys/gals. Fun to get along with, easy going.
Staff: 4 Super supportive, except for one guy who broke my balls. Super inbred.
Research: 5 A whole dedicated research year with funds set aside. Most programs have gotten rid of the research year and cut down their program from 6 to 5 years. It is mostly for financial reasons, medi-care only funds 5 years. All the research dollars come from the program itself, showing it's dedication to advancing the field. My hats off to the chairman for his insightful comments to me.
Facilities: 3 - No VA, weak clinical experience. Ridiculously amazing operative experience/volume.
Rochester: The weather can be ball breaking, but it's a pretty town and housing is very affordable.

-bender

Pain of being from Los Angeles....

I don't think most people understand the love I have for sports. It's funny cuz when I meet someone who is die hard like me, it's like we just click, we get each other. It's funny cuz I only know like 3 or 4 of them, that just have that love, the understanding... the heart for the sports like I do.

Coming from los angeles, you are in the biggest place in the world. Sure NY City is bigger than LA the city, but LA County, no comparison... being part of that is insane, and seriously... the OC, its basically like LA but for snobs who are big pussies. Anyways, back to it sucking... you are soooooooo big, so huge, full of everything... that you lose passion, you lose community feeling, you just lose togetherness. It's all about money and more money.

Now that's fine and good, whatever, I'm gone, don't gotta deal with it. But my teams... OH MAN, my teams... they are in the worst state they've ever been in. We are in a downward spiral that not even Nine Inch Nails would understand. Our baseball team, is the second highest grossing team of all Baseball... and it's HORRIBLE. Finished 4th in the NL West... sigh... Our Basketball team... same thing... and guess what... they are in worst shape.

The worst thing is, it's not the team... it's the people controlling these teams, they are cancerous (I know I spelled that wrong, but I'm a chef not a MD). Which means... It isn't going to get better, these rich fuckers, they keep getting rich, and me.. I get to be miserable. I never get to feel what its like to have a golden age... I missed Magic, Kareem and Worthy. I watched the games with my dad as a child, but I didn't appreciate it like I do now. I was at the playoff games of 88 when Orel pitched his ass off, but I didn't appreciate it like I do now. Those were LA's golden days, and we won't be getting those anymore. Not for a long time.

We are going to be the new Boston Red Sox and Patriots, and suck for a long time. And the Red Sox and Patriots, will be the new Lakers and Dodgers... the new top dogs.

The LA teams will go on a long drought of winning, for a long time, unless the ownership changes how they do business. The worst part is, I'll be watching, through all those painful years, watching as insignificant players come in and out of the picture, because it's not about the players, it never is and never was... it's about the management, always has and always will be. Management builds correctly, you plug n play the stars and players, cuz guess what... they all hit home runs, they all slam dunk, but building a team, that's what it's all about.

Let's look at this for example... with the current Laker Management.... name any player drafted by the Lakers who got a big paycheck or was highly sought after his contract ended with the Lakers.... hmm.... let's see... there was.... oh... and then... and also... hmm... Gee... well I guess that proves the point... none of them, not a single one, since this current regimen took over. Difference between the Lakers and the rest of the league, they draft their good players... we try and sign them. Blame Kobe, blame whoever, but guess what, it is what it is... it's a team you build, and we don't do that in LA anymore, we don't build. We try to win as many games as we can with as little effort as we can so the rich white guy upstairs gets the max amount of money for the minimal effort. YAY...

And me, I get to stay up late watching every game, dish out the cash for that basketball league pass, to watch them lose. Because it's my team, not the owners, but mine. Because it's my money, the city's money who supports the team, even if it's mostly boxes now in the arena for companies to whine and dine and impress clients. It's my team, and I'll be sad about them for the rest of my life, and probably pass that sadness off to my kids, because their dad belongs to a city that cares about money...

Sometimes I wish I was born in Texas, still good mexican food, but without the big city hurrah, and I get to watch the Astros, Texans, and Spurs... well two out of three aint bad. And besides, watching the Texans is better than watching the LA... oh wait, that's right we never had our own team... I think the kings and galaxy are the only real LA teams... very depressing.

But no, I'm from LA, and I will always be an LA fan, even if there aren't many of us out there, mostly bandwagons, but still, I'll sit through it all, in the hopes that McCourt and Buss mysteriously wake up one morning and sell there teams to the guys who Interned under the red sox and spurs

Sorry for the Rant... but... I'm dying man, I'm dying... I only got my sports, my food, and my comic books. Without sports, all I got is food and comic books... and guess what that makes me... fucking lame.

Joe out