Anesthesiology

I just finished my 2 week rotation in anesthesiology. It's been fun. I definitely enjoyed my 2 weeks there. The people there were fun and I had a lot of fun with them. I just felt that the people there are happy and very satisfied with their career choice.

Even though there is a bit of physiology, I'm sure I can get it eventually, but everything is very much to my liking. It has calculations and pharm. It's more of having answers right there and then. It is not like in medicine where there is not an end to treatment. So far I haven't seen much of where there isn't an end to the treatment plan. There's always a definite end, very much like surgery. The hands on portion is very much delicate as well. Like spinal or epidural, it's a fine touch and can easily cause big problems. Even intubation is delicate as well. There's an art to it, deciding how to intubate and the actual intubation itself.

I feel more solid in choosing this specialty. Now the problem is figuring out how to get to it.

I picked out my USMLE Step 2 date: July 11

My Birthday

This year's birthday was very low key. I just made myself the pseudo annual birthday meal myself. In my family, my mom would always make fish, crabs/lobster, veggies, birthday noodles and buy the Asian/French yummy cake for everyone's birthday. So for myself, I made noodles and pan fried a orange roughy fillet and bought myself a slice of chocolate cake from the market. It's my ghetto version of birthday meal for myself.

I went out to dinner with a couple of med school friend to CPK. I haven't been to CPK since I was in LA. It was still good. Going there reminded me of home, more of So-Cal. I totally wouldn't mind going back but I don't if I was willing to stay. I feel more comfortable being out here, the east coast. It's more of my pace and fits my more impatient personality more. Who knows, it might change in the next day or so.

Regardless, thank you for all the well wishes.

Cookie Dough Truffles

adapted from Taste of Home

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional, I did not add them)
1 ½ pounds semisweet chocolate candy coating, chopped

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if using. Shape into 1-inch balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and freeze for 1-2 hours or until firm. (The dough softens quickly at room temperature so it works best if they are frozen, not just chilled in the refrigerator.)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt candy coating, stirring often until smooth. Dip balls in coating; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. If desired, melt remaining candy coating and drizzle over candies. Store in refrigerator. Yield: 5 ½ dozen.

WW Daily Target Points

To figure out how many points you are allowed each day answer these questions and add your score:

1. Gender:
Female- score 2
Male- score 8
A nursing mom- score 12

2. How old are you?
17-26- score 4
27-37- score 3
38-47- score 2
48-58- score 1
over 58- score 0

3. What do you weigh?
Enter the first two digits of your weight in pounds.
(for example, if you weight 199, you will add 19 to your score)

4. How tall are you?
Under 5’1- score 0
5’1-5’10- score 1
Over 5’10- score 2

5. How do you spend most of your day?
Sitting down? score 0
Occasionally sitting? score 2
Walking most of the time? score 4
Doing physically hard work most of the time? score 6

Now add them all together and that’s your daily total.

You are allowed an additional 35 points per week, if you wish to use them. You must use all your points each day in order to lose weight.

Whole Foods - New Eye

Today, I went to Staples to get some stuff printed and bound and saw that Whole Foods is next door. Being that it's lunch time and I couldn't try the Thai restaurant that I wanted to so I decided to venture in and see what I could get for lunch. All through undergrad, I never liked Whole Foods at all because of being too organic and too expensive and totally not my taste. But this time around, I find Whole Foods very intriguing and totally fun. It's just too bad that I don't have the time today to wander around.

They have this whole area just for salad bar but their salad bar is very different. They've got the real salad bar, hot foods like Indian curry, popular Thai dishes, traditional American comfort food and desserts. All this and they have a dine in area that look very much like the ski resort's cafeteria by the windows in Tahoe area in Cali. Not only this, the shopping there is awesome. A ton of stuff that I missed from Cali and I was able to find them. It was great for the 20min that I could squeezed in to wander.

This new perspective on Whole Foods must be because I am older and have changed my taste a bit. Before you would never find me willingly to step foot into a place like this. I am so glad that I did today and found a great place very close to my apt. It seems like a great place to study for my upcoming boards as well. :)