Off on a cruise in the Caribbean!!! Krissy and I are going on a seven day cruise, with a couple of days in Puerto Rico thrown in after the cruise. Time to tan... and eat and eat and eat (and maybe drink a little too).

From the what were you thinking department, yahoo has a story about a kid's halloween costume being set on fire by another student during an assembly.

Happy Halloween

Wow, there is a study out now that links daily TV watching with reading trouble. It says that in homes where the TV is on most of the time, children have a harder time learning to read than their peers.

More fuel to the case for calling the television the "idiot box"

I wish I was one of those people who could come up with things to update my website daily, but I'm just not. I mean, come on, the highlite of my day today so far has been that I went to get my teeth cleaned.
And my how clean they are, too.
At any rate, I AM getting excited about going on a cruise next week. Krissy and I will be gone for ten days, and will be seeing San Juan, Puerto Rico, and many of the leeward islands of the caribbean (St. Thomas, etc).
So in preparation for that, I have been tanning.
Not good for my skin, I guess, but it beats getting burned while I'm down there.

So now that I'm going to medical school, I'm faced with the very real prospect of accumulating large student loans. I was thinking of creative ways to solve this dilemma, and I remembered that I had heard people doing online "panhandling".

Now I really don't want to go that far, but it set me to thinking about something else.

I'm not even sure if this is legal or not, so let me say first (for all you government types out there) that I was contemplating this only for my personal amusement, and such a plan as I'm about to describe in no way resembles a plan that I will be carrying out in the "real world" at any point in the near future. If it's illegal.

If it's legal, then that's another story.... If I could get anyone to do it.

Plus, I'm betting that it will be the stupidest idea you have ever heard.

Anyway, I hope the first amendment is still in effect. It was the last time I checked, anyway.

So after much ballyhoo, here is my $0.02 idea.

I'll offer a personal IPO.
People will be able to buy shares (actually bonds, I think) as an investment in me, repayable at a certain point in the future for a set amount.
For example:
I sell 1500 certificates, at $100 each. These certificates will generate, obviously $150,000 in revenue I can use NOW to pay for my education.
At a point in the future, say ten years, I pay back the investor $140 per "share".
Now, I know nothing about finance, so I don't know how this would compare with what an investor would make in other places. But there would be a guaranteed return.

I do know that I would only have to repay $210000 in ten years, vs. ~$220,000 on a $150,000 loan.
So that makes it good for me.

Anyway, like I said, it probably won't work, and I almost certainly won't do it. But what the heck, I was bored this morning.

Door County was beautiful this weekend, if a little crowded. The weather for late october in WI was especially fine.
As usual, we pretty much go for the apples. We bought about 36 pounds of Honeycrisp apples. If you like apples, this is about one of the best around. Very sweet and juicy, with a nice crispy texture. If you don't like apples, then never mind.

Right now I'm trying to get into the mood to work on the research paper I'm trying to get published. Something about writing the discussion section is just turning me off right now, and I can't seem to get motivated.

We're taking a 5th wheel trailer up to Door county this weekend, so I spent this afternoon getting the thing ready. So many little details, I can't believe people live in these things for extended periods of time. Like the plug to the hot water heater. A tiny little plug that if you don't have it, your trip will go to complete sh*t.
All appears to be in order for now, though.

Oh yea, the new puppy rules. We named her Lucy.

Easy money today.

I got myself a little OT at Station 4, which basically means that I'm watching TV and eating apple pie.
Yum.
At least it's a day off the meatwagon.

I saw on the news today that a monkey is controlling a robotic arm with it's brain impulses. Cool stuff, especially for amputees and people with paralysis.
Wired has the article.

I have a new dog!!!

How's this for scary.
Someone did a search for "california, governor, stripper and webpage" on google.
This site came up second on the list.
Now, I do have all of those terms here (I was commenting on the recall election), but seriously, how do I get near the top of THAT list.

I just noticed that apparently my "look of the day" this weekend was a slightly intoxicated "surprised face".
Oh well, at least I had fun.

This is my boy Brad. Brad got married this weekend.



Krissy and I had a great time at Brad's wedding.



Brad has two young nephews, Harrison and Grayson. They are awesome kids, and they let me hang out with them a little.
We looked for bugs. They were much better at it than I was, they found a moth, while I found nothing.




I also had a chance to hang out with some old friends from college. That's my esteemed med student friend Peter in the background. (Sorry Peter, this is the only pic I have of you)



He and his new wife had a beautiful ceremony, and we all had a great time there.
Congratulations to the happy couple.

I have an excuse!!!!
There is a book titled What Could He Be Thinking? How a Man's Mind Really Works by Michael Gurian.
Yahoo! has a story on it, and basically it seems that the processes behind mens thoughts and decisions are driven by a fundamental difference in the wiring of the brain. As opposed to simple stupidity, or lack of blood ;).
So now every time I do something boneheaded, I can just blame it on my genes!!!

Yesterday I did my annual rotation in the OR. I have to do one every year to keep up my license as a Paramedic with the Fire Department.
Having been recently accepted to Medical School, I found myself incredibly excited to be there (even though all I was doing was intubating and observing). All day yesterday my emotions fluxed between excitement and amazement that sometime in the near future I will be doing all of those things that I was seeing. Even though I've been doing this for the past five years, it just served to remind me exactly why I love medicine, and why I'm going to med school.
Amazing.

Other than that, an altogether boring week. I've started reading the book Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It's a fascinating look at the factors contributing to the state of human history, any why certain cultures came to dominate while other cultures came to be dominated or destroyed. Sort of a dry read, but still very interesting.


I found this today. I just love this emoticon.