It's been a while

"Hello, my name is Dr. I Finding. I was part of the code team called to see your husband. When I arrived at his room, he had been found unresponsive without a pulse. We put a monitor on him and we saw that his heart was in a dangerous rhythm, so we shocked him several times to get him out of it, but instead, it got worse. We gave him high doses of emergency medications to try to jump start his heart, but he did not respond to any of these.

"We also put a breathing tube down his throat to help him breathe, and we did CPR to pump his heart for him, and briefly, his heart was beating on its own, but it quickly gave out and we had to go back to CPR.

"Finally, we tried all the medications that we could, and all the other measures at our disposal, but we could not get his heart beating again, and he expired. We did everything we could. I'm so sorry for your loss."

I tell you, there is no worse feeling than telling some poor woman that the love of her life is dead. And even worse when she thanks you for it.

Wal Mart

Wal Mart, uploaded by Wearn.

So, it's finally happened. I went to Wal Mart. I bought things. I felt dirty afterwards, like I'd pissed all over the flag. I needed to take a shower. It felt yucky.

I really do believe that Wal Mart represents everything bad about America. It is the dominance of corporations and the homogenizing of the country, and reducing pay scales to "greeter" or "stocker" or "cashier."

But where else can you find notebooks for 10 cents and Spam for $1.50? What a cruel world.

Motherfuckers

Recently, I stumbled upon Save the Internet, a grass roots campaign to push for net neutrality. Net neutrality is an effort to prevent telecom companies from creating a tiered system where their data is routed faster, while other people's data takes the scenic route. It'd be as if only 18 wheelers were allowed in the interstates, and everyone else has to take surface roads.

It's shit like this that made me forsake the Republican Party. Please make your opinion known to your senator and stop the telecom companies from taking over the internet.

Okay, no more political stuff for a long time, I promise.

Teach nothing

I really love teaching. It's such a joy to participate in the education of others. It's so precious that at the same time you teach, you can't help but learn as well.

But then, sometimes you make an ass of yourself, like when you can't remember the diagnostic test for Goodpasture's Disease, or you miss the Q waves in the EKG. Doh.

Don't stop believin'

I was in the hospital the other day, and I heard a song on the radio. Don't you hate when you hear something on the radio, and it sticks in your mind? Then you have some random song stuck in your head and it slowly eats your soul.

There are some songs that are SO BAD about getting stuck in your head, and then you find yourself humming it at the nurses station in the afternoon, and one of the nurses looks at you funny and asks, "Are you humming 'It's Raining Men'?" and realizing that yes, indeed you were.

So for your own interest, here are the songs that always get me.
Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
Geri Halliwell's version of 'It's Raining Men'
Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
Backstreet Boys - As Long as You Love Me
Cardigans - Lovefool
Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Soft Cell's version of Tainted Love
Moody Blues - Wildest Dreams
When in Rome - The Promise
Alphaville - Forever Young
Peter Cetera - Glory of Love
Lou Bega - Mambo #5
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
Guns and Roses - Sweet Child of Mine
Rihanna - SOS
N Sync - Tearing up my heart