Jalapeño Shrimp Pasta

12 oz frozen, uncooked shrimp in shells
6 - 8 oz dried linguine
2 Tb olive oil
1 or 2 fresh jalapeño chili peppers, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 c. chopped ripe tomatoes (sometimes I add a bit more)
½ c. finely shredded parmesan cheese

Thaw shrimp, if frozen, according to package directions (run water over them for a couple minutes). Peel and devein shrimp. (Deveining shrimp is completely for aesthetic reasons, and in this recipe I can’t see the vein once it’s cooked, so I highly recommend skipping that step!) Cook linguine. In large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add jalapeños, garlic, salt, and pepper; cook and stir one minute. Add shrimp; cook about 3 minutes more or until shrimp turns opaque. Stir in tomatoes; heat through. (Add a little more salt to taste.) Drain linguine; toss with shrimp mixture. Top with Parmesan cheese.
Variation: Add 3 Tb chopped fresh basil instead of the chili peppers. (I haven’t given this variation a try, so let me know if you try it and like it!)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake

Again, from another's blog and thought looks good.

2 Packages reduced sodium Stuffing mix

1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 lb sliced deli ham, cut into 1 inch stips
1 cup swiss cheese shredded

2 cups cheddar cheese shredded

2 cups cooked chicken ( I used shredded--but I think cubed would be better)

Prepare stuffing mixes according to directions on box. Meanwhile in a bowl, combine soup and milk. Put chicken in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Layer with ham, swiss cheese and 1 cups of cheddar cheese, soup mixture ans stuffing. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese. At this point you can freeze. Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Rumbi Island Easy Mango Chicken and Rice

From another website and I thought it looked good.

• 4-5 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cups mango salsa
• Cumin to taste
• Lemon Pepper to taste

Put chicken breasts in crock pot. Add spices. Cover and cook chicken until tender. Shred chicken on a plate and return to crock pot. Save juices in separate bowl.

Add corn, beans and salsa. More salsa can be added to taste. If mixture seems dry, add some of reserved juices.

Serve over coconut jasmine rice for that Rumbi Island Grill taste. Garnish with cilantro or parsely, if desired.

*You could use regular salsa for a Mexican taste and serve over regular rice or tortilla chips.

Carjack ....Warning

Warning..!!!! Warning..!!!! Warning..!!!!

Something I got from a friend's blog and thought it should be passed around.

WARNING FROM POLICE THIS APPLIES TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN

BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE-- NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS (NOT A JOKE)

Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating.... You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You start the engine and shift into reverse. When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. So, you shift into park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.

And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car.

So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are now compromised!

BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.

Please keep this going And tell all your friends

After Boards Vacay

After all the boards, I flew home to enjoy some family time and SF before going off for my away rotations for the next 4 months. I spent a couple of days at my brother's place in SF and we went to a couple of good Chinese restaurants that my mom found and want to go as family.

We went to this awesome and expensive dim sum place in Daly City. They also sold Dragon's Beard. It's a candy but made it like tons of white threads woven together. Yummy

This was my makeup birthday cake. My brother bought this from a place that he deemed really good. It was yummy too.

In the end, I had plenty of yummy food for a couple of days. I also met my brother's girlfriend and we had lunch with her family after her white coat ceremony. She's nice but I personally don't think they'll last long. She just doesn't really fit with my brother.

Step 2 Studying

I allotted about 5 weeks for the studying. I started halfway through my ER rotation at Morristown Memorial where I was required to do only 11 shifts. So I did majority of them in the beginning and left with 5 for the last half, which left me quite a bit of time to read. I finished reading Crush Step 2 during the time. After the rotation, I started Nephrology for 2 weeks which was only half days at St Michael's Medical Center. During the 2 weeks, I did USMLEWorld, any where from 2-3 sections a day during the weekdays and on the weekends around 3-4 sections a day. For those 2 weeks, I finished about 75% of USMLEWorld. I then took 2 weeks off to finish studying and take COMLEX CE on 7/7, USMLE and COMLEX Step 2 on 7/11 and 7/16. By the time I took USMLE, I finished 90% of USMLEWorld. I then signed up for COMBANK for the last 5 days before COMLEX Step 2. For COMBANK, I had less than 100 questions left by the time I took COMLEX Step 2.

I didn't really studied hardcore until my Nephrology rotation, starting the qbanks. As I was doing the qbanks, I would go over the right and worng answers and add the information that I didn't remember to Crush. Then for about 2 hrs before bed time, I would re-read Crush. I think by the end, I have read Crush twice. Overall, I would say, I spent about 3 weeks in studying.

The materials I used:
Boards and Wards (throughout the year)
Step Up Medicine (throughout the year)
Crush Step 2
USMLEWorld
COMBANK
COMLEX Review: Clinical Anatomy and OMM

Statistics:
Comprehensive Core Shelf: 66% (before starting to study)
USMLEWorld: started 40% and ended with 56 to 65%, overall avg 54%
NBME 2008 free questions: 80% (I think. I don't remember exact score)
COMBANK: started 60% and ended with 74%, overall avg 68%

Now, wait and see how the studying compares to score.

Step 2 CE

Finally done ... hopefully won't have to worry about the next step for another 12-18 months or so.

The day started at 8am and I finished around 4:30pm. I finished the test about 30 min early. I could have finished early but I needed more time for the afternoon session since I tend to have a harder time in the afternoon.

Anyways, the test is so frustrating. I don't what is it about COMLEX that gets everyone I know very frustrated. This year is the medical ethics and law. There were so many of them that I don't really know how to answer them. The frustrating thing about the questions is that they gave minimal information and expects you to figure out what they want and answer the questions. I find the individual questions harder to figure out and answer. The linked questions felt more reasonable, may be because they let you go back and forth within the linked questions. The diagnosis for those questions were easier to distinguish.

There were definitely quite a bit of OB, not as much peds as I was expecting. Definitely there were questions about management and the next diagnostic steps. The OMM were not as crazy as Step 1, maybe they figured out it's better to test the practical aspect of OMM instead of the obscurities. I felt that Boards and Wards was very helpful in that aspect. I used the COMLEX Review: Clinical Anatomy and OMM for the OMM portion of the test. It's the same book that I used for Step 1. This book also has the sections for each individual specialty as well. COMBANK was helpful in that it helps me in changing my thinking from USMLE to COMLEX.

Again, I'm now hoping for the best and hope that the score is better than my Step 1.

The prep post to come after my trip to SF for a family weekend.

Step 2 CK

Just took CK ... boy was that draining. It was a long test and definitely test your stamina on top of medical knowledge. The questions were detailed and the format very similar to the USMLE World. I truly think that UW is golden. I felt that there were quite a few repeats but I really don't remember. I'm so tired that by the last 2 sections, I was so tempted to just go through it and just be done but I forced myself to checked all the flagged questions and keep my concentration.

I can't really say which area was more focused on, just that they are fairly well distributed. I can't say which was easier, UW or CK. I felt that on some section CK was super hard and others were much easier. There are definitely a few questions that tested like Step 1, asking the pharmacokinetics of drugs and microbiology. There might be others but I don't remember now. I truly think that the computer has an algorithm where depending on the percent correct on previous section, it will pull together a certain level of question for the next section. I could totally be paranoid but the dificulty really varied.

Now, I'll just have to wait for the score to come back. I'm really hoping for 220s but anything above my Step 1, I'll take. I totally panicked and stressed out about 3 days before the test, knowing that I really need to score well in order to compensate somewhat for Step 1 and to apply for anesthesiology. So I'm hoping for the best now.

COMLEX PE

Just finished with PE, drove into Philly the day before and back right after the test. Day started early around 7:30am and ended around 3pm. Test really starts at 8am but they wanted us there 30min before just for paperwork, ID pic and orientation. The real test didn't start until 9am. All that waiting time. ::sigh:: it's NBOME. Definitely take the AM session if you are used to the EST but think about the PM session if from the PST. I have been in NJ for the past year so it was no big deal but another guy from my class has been in AZ for OMS III was complaining about being a bit jet lagged. Take your pick.

The whole day consist of seeing 12 patients and writing each of the SOAP notes. The schedule is break into groups of 4 and then lunch/break. They provide decent lunch and have vegetarian option as well. So I was surprised, totally did not expect that. I was good in the beginning in the sense that I was fairly thorough for every case. But about halfway through, I was starting to get tired so my time with the patient were shorter and shorter. I think by the end of the day, I was probably with the patient somewhere between 5-8mins, just enough to get the information to write the notes and diagnosis.

Each of the patient encounters includes history, physical, answering the patient questions and giving tentative diagnosis and what to expect. There are a couple that requires OMM. So it wasn't what I expected where I have to do OMM for every patient. The cases are very common and can be easily picked up.

The most ridiculously part of the day is that the whole day is run by a voice over the intercom. "Begin encounter ..." "You have 2 minutes remaining..." Also you can get up if you finished the notes early. I actually like the setup. You have 23 min for both the patient encounter and the notes but a max of 14 min with patient. Our school's standardized patients and OMS testing closely mock the test. So I felt fairly prepared. The only thing I can say is that it is long and definitely need stamina.

A Quote

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.

If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.

If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.

If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.

If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

I got this from a Facebook friend and thought it's intriguing.