Fretty pACES

january

frettypaces — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:01:51 +0000

this picture was taken while i was driving around a really pretty part of my neighborhood. it’s a part of a pretty big mosaic mural around the walls of The School for Advanced Technology in Rohrmoser

its been a while since i’ve made or posted a playlist on here. hopefully this will make up for that! enjoy
hmm and its been about a year since i’ve started this blog. weird!

January Playlist!

driving is no joke

frettypaces — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:28:57 +0000

last night i went to visit my grandma in Santa Ana, a town that’s like 15 minutes away. The best way for me to get there is called Calle Vieja which is a two way road that involves driving for about 10 minutes on a curvy road on a mountain, driving this in the day is pretty cool because it’s an awesome view. night driving, not so awesome.
lets set the scene. im leaving my grandmas house and since she knows i don’t have food, she gives me some to take back with me, including 2 eggs with no way to hold them, so i had to make sure not to crack them and get egg everywhere. i was also picking up my canary, archie, so i had him in the passenger seat next to me. summary: two eggs rolling around in my back seat, canary in my front seat
then the exact time that i need to go through the center of town to start Calle Vieja to head back home, happens to be the exact time that everyone who was watching the soccer game decided to go home as well. by horse, by foot, by car. so there were people riding horses in the middle of the road,cars leaving restaurants, drunk people excited about who won the game, and i had to get around them in order to make sure i didnt end up behind a bus on a one way street, while making sure that archie’s cage didnt fall. then i started calle vieja
everything was going fine, i had managed to balance everything that i needed to and was able to focus on the curves in the road, simultaneously avoiding potholes and pedestrians. i blink, and suddenly i see headlights in the distance, and realize that a giant bus is going to be turning the curve at the exact same time that i need to. i take a deep breath and just focus on the road. in that moment that i passed the bus, seeing those two white headlights, the size of the bus, and acknowledging that it was going to pass next to me by barely a few feet, i totally imagined myself being a scene of a movie involving a not so pleasant ending. not to worry, i was more than okay, the bus wasn’t actually as close as i thought, and i kept on driving and breathing and telling myself i only had 7 more minutes to go. after calle vieja ended, and being blinded by the driver behind me who wasn’t so happy with my speed and decided to let me know by shining his hibeams (better slow than dead i kept telling myself) reaching my neighborhood and parking my car was one of the biggest reliefs i have ever felt.

never driving that way again at night!

i went halfway around the world

frettypaces — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:29:43 +0000

so a few weeks ago I went to Israel. the experience really changed my life, taught me a few things about myself.
I can survive if I wear the same outfit for 4 days in a row, I may not have felt too good about it, but it’s definitely possible.
The meaning of a homeland. The almost immediate connection that I felt to a place halfway around the world, and the pull that I now feel to return is something indescribable.
With only one thing in common, Judaism, it is entirely possible for a group of 50 to become instantly connected
My bargaining skills can definitely use a little work. But I can ride a camel, and crawl out of a cave.

I’ve watched too many movies since I’ve been stuck inside this past week. I’ve decided Robert Downey Jr. is one of my favorite actors.

Jerusalem – Matisyahu

whole again.

frettypaces — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:35:42 +0000

Caring for a patient is a very complicated practice. In a patient consultation, first, you have to hear what they have to say, and interpret why they have come to see you, and determine if there is a medical issue to address. After forming a conclusion, then, comes the part of explaining to the patient as best as you can, any recommendations you have relating to their complaint. And if necessary, prescribe medication, further treatment and/or testing, or recommendations to specialists. The most important thing that can happen during this doctor-patient interaction is that the patient leaves satisfied with what you have told them, and has a general understanding of why they were feeling what they were feeling. But what about when the end result is something not entirely satisfying, like diagnosing a type of cancer, some type of illness affecting normal bodily functions, or having to perform a surgery to remove a limb, or other part of the body in order to save the patient’s life.

Recently, I have seen multiple cases of people who have lost their faces– in an accident, or because of a tumor, and then doctors, artists really, have been developing prosthetic faces to give to these patients, who often times have almost no functionality in their face, a treatment that really changes their lives–a new face.
If you think about it, the face is what identifies a person, it allows us smell, taste, hear, see everything going on around us, gives us a unique appearance, makes us feel human, and interact with our surroundings. Imagine losing your face. Having essentially a hole in your face, where your eyes, nose and mouth once were. It’s traumatizing. But amazingly, these people have managed to move forward in their lives, using masks, and sunglasses to coverup their appearance from their family, but up until now, have been too afraid to leave their homes and face the world. Now, with the help of these prosthetic faces, they finally have a way to feel whole again, and can walk around in public, without feeling self-conscious about how they look.

For medical reasons, doctors removed their faces, and for a while, these people thought that was their final treatment and began to embrace their new reality. Now other doctors are able to give them a treatment that goes beyond traditional medical procedures- simply making their patient feel whole again, with a prosthetic mask. As relatively healthy individuals, this aspect might not be medically necessary, but the patients were isolated from the surrounding world, causing emotional stress to the patient. As a doctor, you must both find treatments that work for both medically and for the patients’ life after having been treated. When faced with something as drastic as removing limbs, or other extremities, how the patients cope after the procedure really must be considered.

Full face transplant patient

Gunshot to the Face

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Reality

frettypaces — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:46:23 +0000

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the reality of the field I’m studying. As my physics teacher said yesterday, Humans didn’t make these things up, we only decoded and study them. Formulas like the Pythagorean theorem are not just invented, because they prove to be true every time all the time.
The way things work in the human body.. How muscles protect bones, chemicals and compounds work together to make things like the sperm find an egg and which eventually leads to the creation of a human, nerves transmit signals all over the body making us think, move, exist as humans… These have all existed since the first human walked on earth, no one made this up, it is for real.

Like I said, I sometimes get freaked out if I think about it too much. Its just a feeling I’m going to have to accept.

This semester I’m taking Anatomy, Orgo, and Physics. And the interesting thing is that what we are are learning in orgo and physics is focused on how it relates to doctors and medicine. In physics we’ll see how it works in the human body, like how force relates to the way that joints work, stuff like that. Orgo, we are just seeing basic organic compounds that work in the body and its systems, not like when i took it before where you are expected to learn a lot more, and kill yourself to understand mechanisms and reactions that a doctor doesn’t really need to know.

Even though it’s going to be a pretty tough semester, and I have classes 6 days a week, its going to be the last of material I have seen before. I’ll be done with all the basics and moving on to specialized classes that focus on individual areas of medicine. 2 years away from a bachelors in science, and 3 away from rotations at hospitals.

upset at apple..

frettypaces — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:24:17 +0000

Yes, I am huge Apple fan. Yes, I have been obsessively checking blogs like macrumors.com over the past few months for any news on the latest iPhone. So, I was glued to my computer last week reading the live feed of the WWDC ’10, and nearly died of excitement (not really) upon the confirmation of the iPhone4 with all its amazing new features.

I’ve been holding onto my AT&T upgrade for the past six months waiting for this moment, when I can once again own an iPhone (hopefully 3rd time’s the charm). It seemed almost fate that the iPhone was being released during the exact same time that I would be in the US and able to enjoy it with AT&T service– I plan on jailbreaking it so I can use it here in Costa Rica.

BUT OF COURSE, Apple decides to come up short-handed, or under stocked as may be the case, with their first shipment of iPhone4s??

Following in AT&T’s footsteps, Apple has sold out of the initial allotment of iPhone 4s for launch day. The Apple online store now lists July 2nd as the earliest ship date that you can receive an iPhone 4.

Stores may still have stock on launch day for walk-in traffic, but it seems the allotment for pre-orders has been filled. The iPhone 4 will launch on June 24th, 2010. -MacRumors

It’s just not fair!! If Steve Jobs already knew ahead of time that they were going to be selling about 3 Million iPhone4s a month, why not let your little factory workers know about it, so they can produce what’s going to be needed!! talking about how many phones you’re going to sell doesn’t mean anything if the phones don’t exist in the first place to sell them!!

I would have pre-ordered the phone today, and consequently not had to deal with this frustration, but the white phone wasn’t available for pre-order… another issue entirely. All I can say is that I hope that come June 24, Apple is ready to deliver products. Instead of selling out a week before the release date.. Come on Steve Jobs! Don’t disappoint me!! Just work your magic and feed your factory workers some RedBull, extend work hours, do whatever you have to do.

** Yes, I realize this entry has been a bit ridiculous, and don’t worry I am aware that there are much more important things going on in my life than a new phone, let alone the huge problems the world is facing right now– Day 57 of 60000 barrels of oil a day being leaked into the Gulf? But I had to rant. Sorry.

Would you want google to handle your medical records?

frettypaces — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:48:27 +0000

Did you know that in addition to Gmail, GoogleReader, Google Maps, Google also offers a feature to help manage all of your health records? I recently found an article mentioning GoogleHealth, and decided to check it out.

On one hand, I think the concept is really interesting, but at the same time, the fact that one of the largest search engines is offering to store all of your private health information, insurance, and doctors appointments is a little unsettling. Sure they say the service is extremely private, and the information you provide won’t be shared with anyone you don’t authorize, but it’s still the internet and still Google.

What they provide is a way to set up a profile where you can input standard medical information- DOB, Blood Type, Diagnosed Medical Conditions, any treatments you’re on, previous test results, and medications you’re taking. The idea is that when you first set up your profile, you import everything you can, with links to Walgreens and certain hospitals to make this easier, and then as time goes on and more healthcare providers catch on to this program, by simply providing your google username, these healthcare providers will be able to automatically upload your test results, diagnoses etcc to your Google Health profile, and also access all of the medical information you have on your profile. This will allow them to see what medications you’re on, what tests you have had done, and then use this information to help make a diagnosis.

In theory, I think that this is an awesome idea. Basically its updating your electronic medical profile in the same way that you would update your Facebook status, giving patients an easy way to keep all their medical info organized and understand what is going on in your body. Google has a great idea, but for me the big issue is that it is Google. I just feel like I’m adding all of my info into Google and that it’s going to be out there for everyone to see. Maybe it’s just me, but I would feel a lot better if this was available on a website separate from this huge search engine, where I can feel confident that my medical records are kept separate from the website I use to find who invented the Coffee Maker.

amazing cream cheese brownies

frettypaces — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:17:21 +0000

I made these amazingg brownies for my aunt’s birthday on Sunday.. They were delicious and look beautiful!
Recipe:

Cream Cheese Part
3 tbsp Cream Cheese (microwave about 10-15 seconds until softened)
1/3 cup Sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix softened cream cheese to get an even creamy texture, while mixing, slowly add in sugar.
2. Add in the egg and vanilla keep stirring until egg is completely incorporated into the mixture.
3. Put it in the fridge, and make the brownie mix.

Brownie Mix
3/4 cup Unsweetned Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2/3 cup Melted Butter
1/2 cup Boiling Water
2 cups Sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup Flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine cocoa and baking soda in a medium/large bowl. Slowly stir in butter. Add boiling water. (OK if mixture is liquidy)
3. Add flour, vanilla and salt. Blend completly

MIX IT ALL TOGETHER

(You can follow this or just pour in the mixture however you want). In a pre-greased pan/pyrex pour about 1/2 of brownie mix. Pour in some of the cream cheese mix, cover with remaining brownie mix. Swirl the batter with a knife for a pretty design. Stick it in the oven, and bake for about 40 minutes (until you can stick a toothpick in the center and nothing sticks to it).

this makes me really sad…

frettypaces — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:23:55 +0000

And they’re predicting they won’t be able to stop the leak until AUGUST??! While everyone at BP and in the government is trying to figure out how to plug a hole, these poor innocent animals are facing the consequences.

song(s) of the day 6/1/10

frettypaces — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:02:59 +0000

Get a Life – Lil Wayne

El Tigeraso – Maluca