nattering on and on

Friday, August 22, 2008 1:01 PM

Wherin I hope to:

talk to strangers
dance till dawn
hug a lot
try a pythagorian tact
be happy for where I am now in my life
be happy for those who are in my present
and those who are in my past.
ohhh and sleep.

a little.

Friday, August 22, 2008 12:35 PM

This is what its all about. Congrats. John and John.

Friday, August 22, 2008 9:33 AM

This year its all about Steampunk. and a LOT of water. All I can say is Trinity had to sweat a lot.

Since I do some photo stuff I pay close attention to pictures especially couples. Its the little things that stand out the most to me. The hands tell the story. Everyone smiles but people forget their hands. Its how the hands are around waist and shoulders that tell me the story. Disinterest, passion, love? Its all there so apparent.

At John and Johns wedding everyone had the right vibes and the right grabs. SO much fun.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:33 PM

NAILED a rare diagnosis to the GROUND last night at work. AND it was for an adult. The adult doc came in and asked sort of puzzled I have this patient who has x, y and z and I channeled from SOMEWHERE the name of this bizarro disease. Three hours and a lot of test later. boom. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sooner or later.

We hate Ty for obvious reasons ;) (he will kill me for the photo but thank the fan mail.) BUT he got met Micahel Pehlps's mother and got her bumped up to first class on the plane ride back AS it should be.

Hit the story at Olympicsorbust

OK this is a funny get ready for the playa and I love Lust Monkey.

His line "Shoes are the Holy Grail of the Playa. I could not agree more.

My good freinds John and John are tying the knot today. SO excited.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4:30 PM

Welcome home Frenchies Dinner. (its a burning man hat to go with my flapper dress so back off on the comments)

OK well all good things had to come to an end but we are thrilled that Charley is back from Beijing. Its the perfect example of just putting it out there and see what happens.

Of COURSE they met Phelps and his mother and OF COURSE they hung at the America House why? because they simply were energetic and friendly and had a drive to enjoy the Olympics. Drive is contagious. A large thanks has to go out to Jeremy who came through.

No really is it too much? Wait let me get my el wire.

Now on to Burning Man. Yeah its a lot of dress up yeah its a lot of late night dancing but its also much much more than that. I will leave the pontification to others but for me its a chance to recharge my basic belief (proven every day) that given the space and time there is such beauty and creativity in everybody.

One of my best times was watercoloring up on the California coast on a weekend get away. I still have what we made on my wall. Simple but true. As most true things are.

iPhone App of the universe SIMPLIFY it allows you to stream music from yours and OTHERS computers to your iphone ANYWHERE (best on a wifi connnection). I am on the treadmill jamming to my home music or my friends. Another nail in hard medias coffin.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 10:40 PM

I love these clips. they are not long but oh so worth seeing! Tyler is AMAZING with his gymnastics trivia. He is a much better and campier commentator than NBC.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 0:05 AM

Hidden Vegas:

Another entry in Hidden Vegas: Vintners Grill. very good. hidden away way off strip in Summerlin.

WHAT a burning man shopping day. The Playa is going to burn hot this year.

to bed then to gym then to work then to gym then to bed well its a real thrill here.

Monday, August 11, 2008 0:02 AM

oh and just to lead off. the French Swimming team.....yeah..... hows the view from two feet off the ground.....its great from THREE feet up.

totally stolen picture from Olympics or bust. Hit the sight these guys will crack you up. I love Charley's just kid like energy and tyler well Tyler is a wonderful class of his own see below(totally stolen...sue me).. sort of all serious...then you see him on camera and he is the sweetest cutest thing.

Sometimes its the gut and nothing more. AND sometimes you have to hit reset on that been there seen that button.

I am getting somewhat slammed not bad but a little busy. I have:

1) the 2 month old with a fever that I did a spinal tap on that turned bloody meaning that the culture is good but I cant REALLY use the cell count to rule in or out meningitis

2) The BMX rider who just fell off his bike and is holding his arm VERY tightly meaning its a shoulder dislocation or clavicle fracture

3) THE little kid who has a forearm fracture making his arm do a lovely bend

4) the kid who I really don't think has appendicitis but is giving me such a classic exam that I HAVE to CT him

5) The kid who has a sprain.

all in my head not too many all ok then this teenager comes in on an ambulance stretcher looking about, NOT looking sick and I sigh. I walk in and he says that his chest hurt and he threw up. His mom is all over me since in the culture chest pain is heart attack and that's it. So I exam him and he is FINE. Vitals all normal. If he takes a REALLY deep breath he says it hurts a little. I press a little and he says that hurts. Well if you can press and recreate the pain the chances of it being something vs muscle strain, joint pain etc are very low.

except in this case.

I talk to him more trying to juggle all these other kids in my head trying to "make things "nice" for my sign out" and one thing just sticks. "Why did he vomit"? that's not the usual thing here. Its not usual in cases of joint and muscle pain. So I say "self" lets just do a chest X-ray the family will feel better it will be normal and everything good.

so wrong.

I go about cleaning up the room the X-ray is done he is still fine walking around etc. I look at the film and my reading is, and I quote: "holy crap"

His left lung has collapsed. not ALL the way but a good enough way to say holy crap. It can happen spontaneously to young guys. If they are fine there is no need for a chest tube etc. BUT this was WAY unexpected and to tell the truth if I was not bothered by the vomiting he may have gone home.

I can make myself feel good and say "well there is your experience talking and you got the X-ray because something was not right" which is sort of true but I could also and rightly say

"you need not to pre judge your patients so much by their culture, presentation and your current caseload."

I think that I punch the reset button a ton in a lot of different arenas. It does not make for a comfortable time but hopefully it makes for a better outcome for me and those around me.

on other fronts:

Thanks to a friend literally a world away for making me feel better about something. and you owe me a dinner now.

Friday, August 8, 2008 10:15 AM

Charley and Tyler tear it up in Beijing. Ok the video where Tyler has Chinese posing in front of their OWN monuments is killing me. They both are in shape fags so of course the Chinese think they are athletes. hilarious. Tyler doing this big gymnast landing pose with a girl has me in tears.

They are having a great time and more power to them.....and fresh air.....and human rights.......

What's amazing is that anytime they post something FROM their hotel on THEIR computer through a GOVERNMENT modem....that has the words smog, nepal etc it gets bounced back......thats some major software running.

Thursday, August 7, 2008 10:10 AM

OK I thought I would never link to anything Paris but I have to give it to this one.

Off to Santee Alley burning man furs await.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 12:58 PM

When you think you are over it. You aren't, your still thinking about it. The question then becomes what are you going to DO about it. passive to active always the biggest challenge in a Newtonian world.

moving on.

Ok here's some useful stuff if you want to make your own ringtones for your iphone. UBER easy and free. The little anarchist in me gets irked when companies try to bilk people out of cash for something so easy and by which by all accounts should be provided for gratis.

Download a free music editor. I use Audacity. Save your file as an acc. If you can not do that save as a mp3. Go to itunes, go to itunes preferences change import option to acc file and import file it will be converted.

Then download from our friends at Rogue Amoeba (who also make the ever useful Audio Hijack and Airfoil (not paid promos)) MakeiPhoneRingtone.

Drag your file onto window and voila your ringtone already for use.

see chock a block of goodness.

Morocco part 3

All my quickie snapshot Morocco photos here

This is the most severe case of lamellar ichthyosis (1:300,000)you will ever find. We were able to pull his eyelids up and give him the ability to close his eyes. The nurses got together and gave him some great cream but its a hard condition to have in a dessert environment. He had the funniest personality and I have to say was a trooper.

Schedule

this is what I found myself doing about a million times a day. Looking at a piece of paper that as the day went on became more and more torn, annotated and basically shredded. Its tough when the names are unfamiliar and in China it was laughable. Mohammed one of our intrepid volunteers is basically waiting and waiting as we once again change the schedule. Its a race to get as much done as safely as possible and not run yourself ragged in the process. AND still have time to to do this:

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 10:40 AM

if your baby is a cyborg this is perfect. I have seen more cuddly speculums.

The face of tired at 430 am in the ER. Just had the run in with the family who was convinced they knew how to take care of their kid at home (when he is sick with asthma). Sometimes the most frustrating part is trying to do your job but running into fear, undereducated opinions, and at times plain obstinacy. I try to come at this from all angles and usually can form some alliance to get the kid what they need but man its draining. I had just finished and wanted to see how drained I looked. pretty.

Burning Man 2008 is around the corner. Needless to say I am excited.

Some URBAN art for ya.

Sunday, August 3, 2008 6:03 PMwhere I am most comfortable with a camera. No wonder people hate their photos. I love how my lens is in focus and that's it.

At night the Berber musicians dry their drums over the firs after playing them to ensure the oils and sweat from their hands does not affect the animal hide drums.

Check this stuff out for cell phone cases. Its the same stuff used on Apache rotor blades. the video with the phone in a blender is great.

Ok Iphone update. For me at least Mobile me is working perfectly. Since I am all over the map and those near and dear want to keep up I can publish real time schedules etc. If I change something on my comp it automatically changes the web based info AND on my phone AND on my home computer. No more trying to make sure I change something in all FOUR spaces.

The Apps are killer and I am able to really get shit done. I think since I am living in a few spaces now keeping a common thread is for me very key.

OK its work all day friday go out until 6am sunday, sleep till 2 go to gym run 5 miles, work all night sleep all day, catch up on email (hey New Zealand!! we are coming back so get yourselves ready for November!) and now work all night.

WTF?!

I must admit it was fun with Nick etc. Of course one should always beware of private rooms with bottle service in Vegas clubs SINCE that usually means you will drink too much. Actually the host was a really sweet guy who was personable and we had a great time.

In the ER its all teenage girl with abdominal pain....which means its something (ovary, appy, colitis, abscess etc etc) or nothing at all but angst. Had a really goodnight just seeing the kids and parents and getting along with everyone. It nice working with nurses who are excited to work with you and you can teach what's going on and get their viewpoints etc etc.

Yeah yeah the rest of morocco is coming I DO have tips and opinions on what to see. when I can get the pics together.

Saturday, July 26, 2008 9:26 AM

as I play with my iphone I think back on this device I saw in Morocco in use today to crush argan seeds into a paste. It literally is one rock spinning over another...no gears..no metal just a wood stick used to keep the momemtum going.

Had A GREAT time finally going out for some drinks last night. Nothing better than showing up to a bar and runinning into more and more and more people.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 12:07 PM

One of these strange creatures I had the pleasue to meet in Belize. We had great times and conversations. Yeah its the one on the left. I miss that lizard.

Instructables...you have been warned.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:03 PM

ahh the medical team on the ride. These guys are great. (I'm the brown one)

In my mind these people were the best red dress day costume. They must have been SICK of the pose but they nailed it.

San Diego Pride Shooting. Completely insane as I am sure was the disembarking the boat. Can you imagine the state everyone was in after a big dance party. "Ummm Sir can you please look away your dilated pupils are scaring the police dogs."

had the best data dump what little I know of Beijing dinner with Charley and Jeremy. Jeremy works for Access Hollywood (which it turns out has to adhere to the NBC newsroom ethical standards and that makes me a little more than happy) and made the best Celebrity Reel for the ALC ride so he is there all NBC'd up. Charley is doing a Red Carpet segment for the Olympics which should be hilarious. So it was all about where to buy the fake stuff, what to see and what kind of passes you have. Jeremy has the uber uber uber infinity pass.......Charley may sedate him and keep him locked in the hotel room .

It was just that great dinner where three guys in similar life stages get together chat about everything and it was really fun. For as much as I go out and am social its times like that when I really feel pretty good.

Charley is lets say ...excited about the Olympics. Its his thing. Really. He was a volunteer one year where he had to escort the athlete EVERYWHERE for an hour after the event which included inside the showers to ensure they were "clean" for the drug test.

He created this site and he is making contacts hand over fist. That may have been a poor choice of words......nope...it wasn't.

Monday, July 21, 2008 2:33 PM

The Hollywood bowl with Max, Carlos and Becca a good night. Feist is ok in concert but Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings ruled my night.

Attended a fun birthday BBQ where Mike learns he can not keep his hands off the grill.

Lesson 34355-b: Carrying a torch is the surest way to burn your hands. Use a flashlght and find you the nearest exit.

Friday, July 18, 2008 3:57 AM

this showed up in a letter addressed to me today from my house insurance company. Thanks. I know I am single but is it part of my address? Can I apply for "happily single" or "single but really ready for a cool hip joyful boyfriend" or "bitter about it."?

I think gay marriage is great. I know. I was married at 17 to another man back in the 80's when it was not that cool. We were together and inseparable for about four years all through college at Cornell (important since its a pretty liberal place and Ithaca is pretty gay friendly). We first saw each other freshman yr since he carpooled with friends of mine to and from Maine for breaks. Intense dislike masking attraction ensued for a good half yr to yr until I said hi blithely at Risley hall in the lunch line. (some things do stick in my mind). I bought the most expensive gold bands I could afford which meant they were the smallest lightest bands the store had. I still have mine and I marvel at it sometimes. I came back and simply said lets wear rings and we did. It had to be an intensely personal decision since no one else was there to cheer us on and I think that gave it such a sweetness that will never be duplicated exactly.

Now there are other forces at work. Susan Sontag wrote in Notes on Camp (really a must read) that camp is the exaggeration of the fabulous (bad paraphrase). Our community of marriage age shall we say have a track record of exaggeration (bodies, parties, you really name it). I hope we don't lose sight of the fact that in the end its a intensely personal decision and leave the seeking external support, keeping up with the joneses, or proving points in the store with the expensive rings.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:30 PM

You know the minute you see someone or something someone has created and you think "you know I could really really like this guy."

LIKE

home grown (except the eggs).

had a great midweek breakfast drop in with the ever vivacious (see above comment) Jeremy (after his 6am gym session...what!?) for seating number one then Mike, Francesco, and Caleb for seating number two. Had three hours sleep last night....washed this dishes crashed till 230. Think the whole trip, work, play sleep deprivation caught up. Up for the kids and a big boy dinner!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:28 AM

Damien and patient. (damien's the blond).

Ok before I bore you about Morocco.

Its the high summer season in LA. That means pool parties, that means people looking for pool parties, that means people you have not talked to in oh lets say a year calling you to get an invite to pool parties. oh and standing in a bathroom line for half an hour while three guys do lines is really boring. The 70's are back and no one is looking good from it.

what I do notice is that here bringing your body (or a somewhat hot friend) is the equivalent of a east coast bottle of wine or basket from Zabars. I still will always bring a bottle for sexy Rob though. I am missing pool twister party this weekend and really not happy 'bout it.

I've been out of town so have missed a lot of the reindeer games but I do love the reports, edited for my consideration.

Morocco Part 2:
We were extremely lucky to have a HUGE ward floor for our post op patients. In China and the Philippines I was putting two patients per bed (they would lie cross ways) and with two parents per patient it was a crowded bed.
So the patients arrive the night before and we get up about 530 scramble for breakfast and I make my first starbucks or Petes coffee pot of the day. I have learned that bringing a coffee filter holder and five pounds of good coffee is not only essential but a huge pick
up for the team come late afternoon. We pile on the bus I usually fall asleep and then its the race to get
the first five kids screened again for any interim changes and on the table. Getting the first cases going is essential to getting the day moving. Then its all about catching the post op kids. I was EXTREMELY
lucky since the recovery room team only sent kids who were really awake and not bleeding.

But in a Muslim culture its boys with boys and
girls with girls and mothers with mothers and fathers with fathers and fathers with sons with fathers with sons and ....you get the point.
Bed traffic control was a little daunting especially as the rooms filled up. It was keystone cops at times with us having to break up rooms and wheel patients out of one go down the hall to shove them in another just to make sure a mother with her 6 month old son was not in
a room with a father with his 6 month old daughter.

Our translators were great and really worked hard. I still miss my guys from Egypt (salaam Alakum!) but this group stayed late and were running around behind me non stop. I was really impressed by their English and by
the end of the week they had the speeches down pat and could really run the show. I learned basic medical arabic (all one word or three word sentences) in Egypt and that worked ok but the Berber language is
ot tally different. But it makes a huge difference (at least to me) to be able to communicate the basics with the parents.

The mothers hands and feet were usually dyed deep deep henna color and most times with
some great designs. Most mothers were not in a burka and most did not have a hajib. The muezzin would call for prayers and most parents would not go to pray. This seems to be a lot different than Egypt. The
kids were cute but REALLY prone to amazing fits, especially the boys.

So its all about pain control, fever control, bed control, bleeding control and trying to stay awake as the week goes on and the sleep deprivation mounts. The hospitals vary but usually you can count on cats running all over. Its just very important to deal with what you have (and be grateful for what you are going back to).

Anyone who has spent some time overseas I think gets an appreciation that is hard to impart to someone used to the obscene elegance and excess of your AVERAGE mall let alone some insanity like the Grove in LA.

NEXT up Where to go and what to see. and where are the boys.

Monday, July 14, 2008 12:24 PM

I love this pic. This is Claire she is a coordinator for Op. Smile. Damien was amazing and (pic to follow) was the mission coordiantor for the mission in Morocco. Its amazing how much work and skill it takes to get 60 type triple A people to function smoothly ...in a foreign land. I was bandaging her blisters and did not know she was being all Coppertone behind me.

Dragstrip 66. A little weak this time. Made the fatal error of having wine at home and cheap vodka there. Was having a fun time ...until I took stock turned to a friend and said..I need to go .....now. I have a fine tuned sense of "I have one half hour until I am going to be messy ..pull the cord." And I said goodbye walked out and then woke up the next morning in my bed....massive headache.

The Cemetery Screenings always a fun thing. I was with a fun group half sober/half not. All I can say is that some people in this world have survived a lot of serious shit. wow.

Uploading a tons of photos to Flickr. I will def. find out if there is a limit to this thing.

Friday, July 11, 2008 11:51 AM

I just pulled some NASTY packing from this kids mouth and he was tough!! So I called him tough guy in Arabic and he did this boxer pose. I love it.

Its when you look right into a kids eye and make that connection that will forever be among the greatest moments for me. The other kid has severe burns on his face and chin limiting his ability to look upward so we released those scars giving him more mobility.

Time for more pages.

I love this page since it has travels from

1)Operation Smile in Egypt
2) The time I went to Belize to shoot photos for the rainforest Coalition there
3) Toronto with Max for Joanne and Sasha's wedding
4)Paris with the Frenchies
5) Manchester for a emergency medical transport (the Lowry...all I am saying.)
6) Operation Smile Philippines

Sometimes I wonder why I spend so much time traveling. I think its a process of curiosity but the obvious questions are there. Its not to escape *that much* because honestly I find my self thinking even more on my past life/relationships/current state when I am in my head in a foreign land. I always come back a little more settled so that's a good thing.

I will say that traveling while one is young is key. I am more fit and able to endure the rigors of the road and lets face facts entering a train cabin and striking up a conversation with a cute Parisian/Moroccan man is easier now than 75. Of course then I will be in a different world hopefully as varied but much different.

Of course I lost a TON of weight/mass on the ALC ride and traveling for three weeks did not help. ummmm run in 103 heat in Marrakech......ummm no. Arrrgh just when the gym thing seemed to be going well.

SO going throught the pics from Essaouira (my def. honeymoon destination (after the marriage in Paris of course)), Marrakech, Fes, Ape watching (Barabary Apes!!), Casablanca.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 10:27 PM

Morocco Part 1: The Operation Smile Mission Screening. The hardest part is saying no.

Just got back from an Operation Smile Mission in Morocco. We worked in Agadir and over a week we screened (ie examined really whoever came to the hospital with whatever condition) about 300 kids. From these we identified those who would receive a cleft lip, palate, or combo repair as well as burn scar revision. Burns are also a BIG issue in the developing world from cooking oil fires among other etiologies. I saw patients whose hands were reduced to little more than clubs from severe burns that caused scarification melding the fingers together.

Just coming off the Aids Lifecycle I, truth be told, was a little over the "great group of people coming from all over the world to do something great...learning about each other creating a team doing a hard job and feeling great and tired at the same time" thing. Until the second day and then how can you not have fun with a "great group of people coming from all over the world to do something great...learning about each other creating a team doing a hard job and feeling great and tired at the same time" thing.

Our team was about 60 people from US, Italy, Philippines, Scotland etc. We would wake up about 530 get to hospital by 7 and screen away. All sorts of things came in from the simple cleft lip to a kid with lamellar icthyosis that was a text book case according to our telemedicine (blackberry photo to a coordinators dermatologist sister in the US). There were also the cases of syndrome X (ie Funny looking kid (FLK in black medical black humor...which always asks the question is there an FLP) and those syndromes you see but rarely unless you work in a large medical center.

I worked in a room about 9x9 with five other docs and my job is really to identify those kids with medical condition that would make them poor surgical candidates (ie die on the table..not good). So imagine the noise and crying and hustle and bustle and I clamp a stethoscope to listen for heart murmurs and try to decide if that runny nose is from crying or an actual illness. Understandably the parents want these surgeries so will usually not admit any fevers etc. Its also heartbreaking. A family sold their possessions traveled FIVE days on buses etc for a condition we could really do nothing about. There were also cases that NEEDED help but outside our scope so those are referred to other organization but it feels really bad to send someone out wondering what ever is going to happen to them.

As the screening goes on the bonding happens....that one kid or family you gel with and will follow through the whole process. My kiddo was this cute boy with a Berber father and mother. The Berbers are a ethic group in Morocco predating the arab migration with their own language and customs.

dead tired now. flew from Casablanca to Barcelona to London to Chicago to LA for a few hours then to Vegas over 36 hours. Did meet some amazing people on the way home one of whom is a really nice young Spanish guy from Barcelona who is a basketball coach for the NBA players in Vegas. We had some good talks and as it happens he is here when I am so hopefully we will stay in touch. small world story #345-B.