In the spirit of The Office, I considered replicating Michael’s attempt to impress a personalized contribution to society by dunking my face in the newly minted black-top (It was still steaming) in the hospital parking lot.  The thought was short-lived, however; somehow I doubted that fresh black-top is as malleable as wet cement. Nonetheless, it would have been more enjoyable than performing medical research, with comparable results.

medicine humor

As part of my internship requirements, I work in the emergency room triaging patients. The shifts range from 10-12hrs apiece, and it’s surprisingly tolerable. Since I am not an EM categorical resident, I don’t have to triage the trauma patients. That leaves a medley of typical ED presentations along with some less common issues. These include COPD exacerbations, pneumonias, GI bleeders, HIVers, and obstipations. The best part about the ED is that all I have to do is determine whether a patient needs to be admitted or sent home. At the end of the shift, I sign out any pending labs and issues to the next resident, and I leave. No more worries. Since there are always patients waiting to be seen, the shift doesn’t drag along.

The attendings also seem content with their work–several of them noted that the best part of their job is that they rarely exceed 50, even 40 hrs a week! That leaves adequate time outside of the hospital to stay sane. Not bad.

medicine work

Recently I have been bombarded by automated voicemail messages from assorted vendors attempting to hawk their services. I’ve realized that they all revolve around selling an abstract service, such as car insurance, health insurance, or theft insurance. Surprisingly, I never received any of this spam prior to signing up for web hosting on GoDaddy. The chronological correlation was disturbingly clear; I started receiving random automated calls on my phone about 12 hours after I purchased a domain from them. I had explicitly indicated on my subscription application that I did not want to be contacted by vendors. I haven’t given out my telephone to any other service since then either.

It’s frustrating, because I have been unable to link GoDaddy with spam vendors, although I have read some forums with similar complaints. I guess they need to supplement their $1.19 yearly domain registration charges with other means.

computing tech

I admit that I’m ignorant about business and economics. I’ve been a student for the majority of my life so far, and it seems like the only “economic success” I’ve had is racking up a shocking amount of student loan debt throughout the years. Recently, I’ve been playing catch-up with economic terminology so that once I actually have a positive cash balance, I’ll know what to do.

I’ve read a bunch of guides on cutting spending and minimizing expenses for the average-Joe, but many of the suggestions don’t necessarily apply to me or seem a little bit too fundamental.  Nonetheless, I’ve decided to add on to the list of online guides, and offer some of my thoughts on saving money. Perhaps they will be of use to some people.

1. Credits cards. I am considered a “transactional user”, which simply means that I pay off my credit card balance at every billing cycle. While it’s commonplace for me to tell you not to carry a balance since I don’t myself, I’d imagine this is where you rack up excess consumer debt. Credit card companies charge hefty interest rates up to the 20-30% range for balances. If you carry a monthly balance, then it’s time to crunch the numbers to see where you’re bleeding cash. When you do use a credit card, get some cash return with one that pays cash back on your purchases, like the Chase Freedomcard. I get 3% back on my top 5 categories of expenses, and 1% back on everything else. It adds up, albeit slowly. Read more…

misc economy

Feasting after the big exam. I have no idea what proportions I added, since I never measure exactly anyway.

Ratatouille: onions, garlic, habanero pepper, red bell pepper, Dominican eggplant, tomatillos, green squash, Roma tomatoes, basil, paprika, bay leaves, iodinized salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, fish sauce.

Pasta: whole wheat spaghetti, from Trader Joe’s.

misc food