Entries categorized as ‘Nerdisms’
After a meal of ceviche and mojitos on the LES last night, we ventured out to Brooklyn to a bar that I’ve been meaning to visit for roughly 3 years… Barcade. The place was amazing – great microbrews and the walls are lined with video games. The games are all the ones that I grew up with. I was amazed at Christie’s Mario Bros. skills. She remembered all the secrets – the hidden 1-ups and even the secret path on level 1-2 that lets you warp up to the 4th world. I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of her. It put my skills to shame.
Woke up severely hung over and tired this morning, but we pushed through and did an 8 mile run. I’m regretting that now… I feel absolutely exhausted and feverish. Last night was worth it, though!
Click here to play some 8-bit NES. Bubble bobble is extremely addictive…
Categories: Nerdisms
I’m preparing an elaborate presentation in an attempt to convince the li’l lady that an iPhone is not only needed but is also a financially optimal decision. I crunched some numbers and discovered that two years of service with iPhones for the both of us is actually CHEAPER than our current coverage. I hate to be such a consumerist and gadget whore, but this thing is too cool.
Categories: Nerdisms
There is an enormous amount of art and creativity that enters into scientific endeavors. Not creative in the sense of making data up (though, that has been known to happen), but with respect to truly beautiful experimental design.
Then there are moments when a simple experiment produces data that is striking. Simplistic and common in the scientific literature, but still beautiful.
Categories: Nerdisms · Science
I used to catch a lot of shit for being an apple fan. Yesterday, I felt a little vindicated. My 5th gen video iPod had been acting weird, and then finally bit the dust. I went down to the 5th Ave Apple Store and explained the situation. My iPod was roughly 3 weeks out of it’s 1 year warrantee. I think most people would have sent me packing. However, they just turned around, pulled out a new iPod, and handed it to me.
Pretty sweet.
Let’s hope for a new iMac announcement at today’s keynote address.
Categories: Nerdisms
Yes, those are the sounds of science! After three long years away from the lab, I happily started work in a molecular cardiology lab here on campus. There is something that draws me towards basic and translational science – perhaps a desire to understand the mechanisms behind physiology and disease states.
Regardless, I probably wont be terribly productive for a few weeks since I have lost any of the molecular skills I once had. Lots of confusion and clumsiness will surely follow.
Categories: Nerdisms · School
About time. This year has been long, forcing me to mentally check out a few weeks ago. Sadly, it was a bit early in light of the test I have tomorrow.
With the completion of tomorrows test, I’ll be done with third year. I’m convinced that this year will go down as one of the more bizarre years. Not only for me, but medical students the world over. It’s a precipitous change from passive learning in the classroom to being thrown in the hospital and being expected to play the ill defined role of “third year medical student”. Eventually the hospital doesn’t seem so foreign, you learn your role, and hopefully you learn a bit of patient management. Although not all experiences were wonderful, I was privileged to know many of the patients, residents, and attendings I worked with. As for the assholes… I’ll just make a point of never becoming “that guy”.
So what’s next? I am going to be back in the lab for 2 months, then sub-internship during August-September, then back to the lab until February. One of the great things about this school is the fact that they let us do pretty much anything we want for our fourth (and final) year. I have been missing basic science since I left it three years ago, so I am planning on returning to it. The work is extremely interesting – still cardiology, but the focus is more on the molecular and cellular biology behind heart failure and cardiomyocyte death.
The research schedule will be much more relaxed than rotations, so I have many plans of things I want to pursue in the coming year:
1. Get back to my usual reading… there are many history and philosophy of science books that have been collecting dust on my shelf.
2. Keep up on my running fixation. Keep doing races, and get serious about running a marathon.
3. Keep riding and do a century or two this summer. Of note, my road bike is finally fixed following a minor accident. One of New York’s finest decided to turn directly into me while I had right of way. Asshole cop also left the scene without leaving any information… I think that’s hit and run where I come from. Long story short… I’m glad I have an awesome friend who is also an awesome mechanic. He replaced my drop-bars and derailleur hanger for me.
4. Maybe write more on this neglected site?
Take care everyone… and make sure to keep 12/31/07 free. I promise it’ll be an awesome party.
Categories: Nerdisms · School · Uncategorized
“Perhaps My Pickup Lines Need Help” by Frank Ferri
If I were diabetic—and, judging by my family history, my eating habits, and my elevated fasting glucose levels, chances are good that I am well on my way—and I were to eat you (again, not in an improper way but in an honest-to-goodness-my-blood-sugar-is-dropping-and-I-really-need-to-eat-something-fast way), there would be a good chance that after just one nibble of you, my pancreas would experience such a shock and my sugar levels would soar to such astronomical levels that I would enter a state of hyperglycemia and would suffer the related horrible effects, culminating in a hyperosmolar nonketotic coma, which means that I would be in severe trouble should you not take me to the emergency room immediately—but it would all be worth it, as long as I came out of it relatively unharmed—and I would have a second nibble, for your sweetness is an elixir that I could not live without, no matter the risks.
More here…
Categories: Nerdisms
Categories: Nerdisms · School
I’m too cheap to actually pay for web hosting anymore. I struggled for a bit with exporting the old site to WordPress, but finally had success. I lost my photo gallery, but I’ll deal with that later.
Update: Okay… I’m getting annoyed. For some asinine reason, WordPress neuters your ability to modify the .css code when you’re operating within their site. Therefore, I can’t add something as simple as a time-stamp to posts or .php code to the sidebar (for Flickr stuff). Oh wait… if I pay $30 I can alter the .css code. WTF?
Update 2: Okay… added the Flickr badge to the sidebar. Not quite as nice as the old “Gallery2″ I used to have, but it will suffice.
Categories: Nerdisms · Photos · Site News
I leave tomorrow for what promises to be a rough week in the Grand Caymans. It’s safe to say that I’ll be the most white trash person to ever stay at the Ritz-Carlton. I fully intend to drink myself into a stupor nightly and steal the sheets off the bed when I leave.
And now for something that is a wonderful use of time: An attempt to demonstrate the time-scale that evolution operates on. The scale is so vast that I think the human mind is simply incapable of fully comprehending it, but this is an excellent demonstration. Enjoy.
Categories: Nerdisms · Travels
