I used to enjoy tweaking computers, whether it involved fiddling with the latest linux distro or optimizing boot times on my operating system. Not anymore. The other day I was trying to figure out why my relative’s computer was running so sluggishly. I had configured it over a year ago, and it booted in less than a minute. Now, it took nearly 2 minutes to reach the desktop. Execution of applications after a double-click crawled painfully.

The system is an Athlon 1800+ with 1 gig of ram and a GeForce4 video card. There is no reason for the computer to be slow, especially without any newly installed software. It turned out that the McAfee antivirus program was the culprit, which reinforced my distaste of all antivirus programs. Moreover, McAfee’s uninstall program failed to remove a component that lingers in the system processes to prevent worms from disabling the antivirus program. The program was, in essence, a virus itself. How ironic.

It took me approximately 45 minutes to pinpoint the program and wipe out the badness. However, I hated every step of it. I didn’t enjoy the challenge of solving the problem of a slow computer anymore. It was a chore. In the end, I was glad that my stint in the tech support industry lasted only 1 month in college. Maybe my next computer will be a mac…

computing computing

I recently watched The Hangover, a hilarious comedy about a bachelor party gone awry. There was a scene in which Zach Galifianakis was ridiculed for carrying a satchel by his friends. “You’re carrying a man-purse!”

That brought back some memories of my experience during my family medicine rotation during internship. I had carried a nylon briefcase from the AAO 2008 meeting to work and one of the FM sub-i students remarked, “Is that a man-purse? Whoa!”

Mind you, the AAO briefcases do not even compare in quality or in metrosexuality as the Timbuk2 messenger bag above. If I had my way, she would have gotten an “F” for insight. Clearly the philistine doesn’t know the difference between a briefcase and a messenger bag.

medicine medicine, rant

Over the past ten to fifteen years, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) have surfaced as a viable alternative to incandescent lighting that we’ve used since Edison first developed the tungsten filament lightbulb. It’s a great means to reduce our carbon footprint and lower our utility bills in the process. In cities like NYC where electricity costs a whopping 13+ cents/kWh with enormous delivery charges, you can reduce your electric bills from lighting by over 50% with CFLs.

I’ve been using CFL’s since college days. The bulb I have in the track light to the left has been with me since senior year of college. It still runs strong, and uses about 13-watts of power to generate luminosity equivalent to a 75-watt incandescent bulb. You’ve probably read some of the shortcomings of CFL’s, which includes flickering, delayed startup, and incompatibility with dimmer switches. While these problems have been mostly remedied with stringent quality control and built-in dimming ballasts, the one gripe I’ve had with CFL’s is that their intensities degrade over time.

My 13-watt CFL bulb is made by GE; I’ve had it for about 6 years. I recently bought a 9-watt NVision CFL bulb to place in my side table lantern. When compared to each other, it is clear that the 9-watt bulb is brighter than the 13-watt bulb. I don’t have a light meter to measure the luminosity of the light, but there is a perceivable difference in intensity.

The question now is whether my new bulb will degrade in quality over time. I guess that I’ll have to wait a few years to find out. In the meantime, I’ve replaced the bulbs in my living room area with CFL’s. They work well in general areas, but not as well for reading light. I’ve stuck with my mini-halogen desk lamp for that.

computing misc, tech

I took a bunch of wine cases from a wine superstore to use as packing material. Wine boxes are great shipping containers; they pack a sturdy 32 lbs/sq in. cardboard. This comes with no surprise, since wine is heavy. The sides come with substantial padding that is great for packing electronic equipment.

However, apparently you cannot ship wine (or parcels in wine packaging) through UPS without a license. Doh! Fortunately the guy at the UPS Store was kind enough to repack my boxes in a discrete cardboard box for a nominal fee.

misc life

The hospital where I used to work kept tabs on personnel use of hand sanitizers. They encouraged us to clean our hands before and after entering patient rooms to minimize disease transmission. These alcohol-based sanitizers were advertised as an ideal alternative to frequent hand-washing; no more dry hands and hand-washing eczema! For every five to seven times we used the hand sanitizer, we were instructed to wash our hands, to clean off the grime residue of the gel.

Of course, we all know that hand washing with soap and water is the only means to eliminate C. difficile, the badness responsible for super-foul diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis.

I hated using the alcohol sanitizers. It left a sticky residue on my fingers that did not instill the feeling of cleaniness. I only used it as an intermediary agent when I could not reach a sink in the vicinity.

It was only when I returned to NYC that this slimy waterless cleaning agent became useful, not in the hospital but in the city. On a busy day, I travel via subway at least twice daily, and exchange services with weather-beaten NYC cash (many vendors do not accept credit). One can only imagine how filthy subway handrails and doors are. I once witnessed a guy scratching his unspeakable bodily areas and then gripped the subway pole. Another guy wiped orange duck sauce from his take-out food onto the subway seat. Having Purell in the subway could never hurt.

Yesterday I prided myself for bringing Purell on my trip around the city for errands. As I was waiting for Sunny, the local falafel vendor, to prepare my lunch, I witnessed a sight no amount of hand sanitizer could cleanse. The vendor loaded my falafel using the same gloved hand he handled my cash in. So much for wearing gloves.

Sunny may never get my business again…

medicine medicine