Up next: Birth panels! From the Daily Mail:
Bed Shortage Forces 4,000 Mothers To Give Birth In Lifts, Offices And Hospital Toilets
C'mon, America, let's make it happen! Let's do it for Teddy!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Funemployment: Over!
I'm happy report to you, my HTNL readers, that my summer of funemployment has officially come to an end. I have accepted a position at Washington University's school of medicine in St. Louis. I am working for several doctors who study Parkinson's disease.
The job has come with several new challenges. First, until we move, I have an hour and 20 minute commute every day. I have a cubicle, and a computer of my own where I sit and nerd it up all day long. While working in the hills or at the winery, I never envisioned myself sitting in a cubicle, organizing huge data sets. But, it is a stable, rewarding job in my field (above my field actually) where I can contribute to valuable research.
I've been thinking a lot of Gramps and of John Paul 2, and ask them for their prayers with my new job. I thought explicitly of these two when applying for the job and I'm fairly certain they had something to do with my hiring. I am the only one in the lab without a masters degree ... but I can fake it pretty well. I am in charge of organizing 2 studies, entering their data, and maintaining the data sets for the doctors.
Part of our job is conducting tests on various workers and people from rural areas. Apparently, anyone who has more exposure to heavy metals, through their job, has a heightened risk of Parkinson's, according to some studies. Interestingly enough, I also learned that if an individual smokes, they have a 50% LESS chance of getting Parkinson's. You'd think the tobacco companies would play that one up...
There are two other parts of my job that are a little more... gross. First, I am a key player in all of the 'dirty lab' work. That means I work with the blood. We take blood samples from some people to study, and I have to pipette it and organize it in our deep freeze. And, soon my time will come when I need to learn to draw blood.... (The scientific word for passing out is syncope which is caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain). So far though, I have not passed out or vomited. Although I did warn my boss that I would pass out and then vomit while passed out. They didn't laugh, and I think they thought I was serious ... maybe I am.
Secondly, I will have to help image brains, human brains ... (right now they're being stored in buckets somewhere on the premises) I am not too sure what to think of this but I desperately need experience in neuroimaging for my grad school applications.
One fun thing now is that all of the med students are coming back to school and are running around with their big backpacks. Apparently, the length of the lab coat signals how advanced someone is in their medical education. The med students have really short lab coats, big backpacks filled with huge books, and often look disheveled. I discovered, while looking through my drawers while organizing, that there were some lab coats from the doctor who used to use my office. I think I might wear them around and try to con med students and techs into buying me coffee. The key to pulling off a good doctor con is not to make eye contact and constantly think you're better than everyone. That's the key.
Cheers!
The job has come with several new challenges. First, until we move, I have an hour and 20 minute commute every day. I have a cubicle, and a computer of my own where I sit and nerd it up all day long. While working in the hills or at the winery, I never envisioned myself sitting in a cubicle, organizing huge data sets. But, it is a stable, rewarding job in my field (above my field actually) where I can contribute to valuable research.
I've been thinking a lot of Gramps and of John Paul 2, and ask them for their prayers with my new job. I thought explicitly of these two when applying for the job and I'm fairly certain they had something to do with my hiring. I am the only one in the lab without a masters degree ... but I can fake it pretty well. I am in charge of organizing 2 studies, entering their data, and maintaining the data sets for the doctors.
Part of our job is conducting tests on various workers and people from rural areas. Apparently, anyone who has more exposure to heavy metals, through their job, has a heightened risk of Parkinson's, according to some studies. Interestingly enough, I also learned that if an individual smokes, they have a 50% LESS chance of getting Parkinson's. You'd think the tobacco companies would play that one up...
There are two other parts of my job that are a little more... gross. First, I am a key player in all of the 'dirty lab' work. That means I work with the blood. We take blood samples from some people to study, and I have to pipette it and organize it in our deep freeze. And, soon my time will come when I need to learn to draw blood.... (The scientific word for passing out is syncope which is caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain). So far though, I have not passed out or vomited. Although I did warn my boss that I would pass out and then vomit while passed out. They didn't laugh, and I think they thought I was serious ... maybe I am.
Secondly, I will have to help image brains, human brains ... (right now they're being stored in buckets somewhere on the premises) I am not too sure what to think of this but I desperately need experience in neuroimaging for my grad school applications.
One fun thing now is that all of the med students are coming back to school and are running around with their big backpacks. Apparently, the length of the lab coat signals how advanced someone is in their medical education. The med students have really short lab coats, big backpacks filled with huge books, and often look disheveled. I discovered, while looking through my drawers while organizing, that there were some lab coats from the doctor who used to use my office. I think I might wear them around and try to con med students and techs into buying me coffee. The key to pulling off a good doctor con is not to make eye contact and constantly think you're better than everyone. That's the key.
Cheers!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Hilarious Steyn Post from NRO
Doctor O's enforcers decide it's time to get heavy with the insurance companies:
Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of ‘extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry...”
By Sept. 4, the firms are supposed to supply detailed compensation data for board members and top executives, as well as a “table listing all conferences, retreats, or other events held outside company facilities from January 1, 2007, to the present that were paid for, reimbursed, or subsidized in whole or in part by your company.”
You first. How come the compensations and perks of a vice-president in a private company are to be subject to greater public forensic examination than those of Dodd or Rangel?
They're supposed to be representatives not rulers. George III couldn't have got away with a letter like that.
--Mark Steyn
Friday, August 14, 2009
Great Articles Today
One by the CEO of Whole Foods (organic, green, yuppie headquarters of every yuppie area of any city) who actually is AGAINST Obamacare, which will without doubt ruin this nation.
Another, the hilarious response of the liberal yuppies to this great article.
One by the American Papist.
Another, a transcript with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn.
Lastly, one by the Washington Times, on the Obama health care double talk.
Another, the hilarious response of the liberal yuppies to this great article.
One by the American Papist.
Another, a transcript with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn.
Lastly, one by the Washington Times, on the Obama health care double talk.
Monday, August 10, 2009
The politics that drive the greatest lie of our time
Here is a wonderful video on the hoax of global warming for anyone who has ever thought Al Gore was a good guy and maybe even right.
click here for my favorite installment and you can find links to the whole documentary on youtube from this link...
click here for my favorite installment and you can find links to the whole documentary on youtube from this link...
Welcome to Big D
This past weekend saw the glorious end to my and my wife's "funemployment tour" of 2009 as we traveled down to Dallas to visit dear friends Chris and Stephanie. Previously, my wife and I traveled to Kentucky to volunteer for 2 days repairing homes, then to Wisconsin with college friends to camp and eat cheese. The first two trips were exciting and fulfilling in many ways, but this trip was relaxing and calming to say the very least.
Things have been a bit stressful as of late what with the job search going... not as productively as we might like. So a retreat to Big D was a special mercy. Most especially moving and calming was the large, orthodox, and faithful Catholic presence surrounding our good friends and including our good friends. Multiple dinners with these young scholars, PhD hopefuls and "right wing radicals"of hearty food and ample amounts of Austin home brew made for wonderful conversation about matters both troubling and merry. We were also privileged to attend Mass both at the University of Dallas' beautiful chapel and also a nearby monastery which is so special a place I would rather not talk of it here but can only describe it as timeless and transcendent.
The main purpose of our trip, to visit our great friends, was calming and reassuring. Many great conversations and merry making culminated in a 96 degree game of ultimate frisbee Sunday night (in which a Gaffer team could not be stopped). And though I have added to the massive data set that I am not made to run, it was fun none-the-less.
We were blessed to have this trip. And it left us rejuvenated and strengthened to face our coming challenges (most specifically finding a job)....
I wish I could share with you more, more specifics of the conversations regarding faith, politics, the future, our aspirations, our adrift culture, and the like, but alas those details are reserved for the special times of human experience beyond the reach of a blog post or a twitter post or text abreevs.
Cheers!
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
-Lord of the Rings
Things have been a bit stressful as of late what with the job search going... not as productively as we might like. So a retreat to Big D was a special mercy. Most especially moving and calming was the large, orthodox, and faithful Catholic presence surrounding our good friends and including our good friends. Multiple dinners with these young scholars, PhD hopefuls and "right wing radicals"of hearty food and ample amounts of Austin home brew made for wonderful conversation about matters both troubling and merry. We were also privileged to attend Mass both at the University of Dallas' beautiful chapel and also a nearby monastery which is so special a place I would rather not talk of it here but can only describe it as timeless and transcendent.
The main purpose of our trip, to visit our great friends, was calming and reassuring. Many great conversations and merry making culminated in a 96 degree game of ultimate frisbee Sunday night (in which a Gaffer team could not be stopped). And though I have added to the massive data set that I am not made to run, it was fun none-the-less.
We were blessed to have this trip. And it left us rejuvenated and strengthened to face our coming challenges (most specifically finding a job)....
I wish I could share with you more, more specifics of the conversations regarding faith, politics, the future, our aspirations, our adrift culture, and the like, but alas those details are reserved for the special times of human experience beyond the reach of a blog post or a twitter post or text abreevs.
Cheers!
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
-Lord of the Rings
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