From Facebook to Frontline

Gwen returned this past Sunday after a week in Chicago, where she participated in the ultimate Rock Star Convention - otherwise known as the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurologists. Nothing spells non-stop party like a convention of doctors; trust me the American College of Physicians conventions which tout thousands of internists are no different - nothing but sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

I spent most of the week she was gone on call doing the wards. It wasn't a bad week, all told, but even a light week by wards standards is a busy one, and one which more or less sucks up the front end weekend.

This past week our routine has resumed its normal course, both of us working and waiting for our next break. For me, that will be in mid-May when I take off for a week to go to DC for the aforementioned rock star convention of internists. (I'm packing my leather pants and earplugs baby.) For Gwen, the next break will be at the end of May when we take a long weekend to head to London.

Until then, the grind of work will be the norm. Over the past 6-12 months I've sort of made it my own informal policy not to talk about work here on this blog, and I won't really go against that here. (Lest I get lectured by anonymous commentators about what my job and my role in the Army are.) I will say that there have been changes at Landstuhl over the past year which make both Gwen and I wish we were not, in fact, staying on another year. I say this despite the fact that it is still easier to simply extend and ride out our Army time over here, rather than go through the soul-crushing military process known as a "PCS". That said, things are different, now, at Landstuhl, in ways I won't elaborate on. One thing I will say about it is that I wish I had a year to work with residents and medical students. As I transition back to real life and a civilian job next year, I would like to know if academic medicine is something I could be into. Something tells me that I could in fact enjoy doing that aspect of medicine - that is teaching. But I won't really know at this point until I dive in and try, and that's not going to happen while I remain in the military, because Landstuhl has no residency programs and only the rare visiting medical student.

In other news, I finally caved to the cajoling of my sister and created a Facebook profile. Facebook, similar to (but far less annoying than) Myspace, is supposedly a "social networking" site. It has been an interesting experience, so far, I suppose. The best thing about it is reconnecting with old acquaintances, though admittedly the exchanges are essentially limited to "Hey! What's up?" followed by a brief description of what is up followed by little else other than that person remains in your Friends List. So while most of the time is spent trolling friend's friend lists for people you might know (and could be "Friends" with) and also profile searching everyone you've ever known since third grade, the rest of the time on Facebook, like MySpace, is spent tweaking your profile, and adding applications like "Which Lost Character are You?". (For the record, I am apparently Sayid, though I desperately wanted to be the roguish Sawyer. In reality, as I see it, I'm probably more like a cross between Charlie and Hurley, but I digress.) Anyway, if you read this and sign up for the thing, be sure and add me as your Friend. I need more - I am hungry that way.


Gwen purchased "There Will be Blood" on DVD the other day, and two nights ago Pete, she, and I watched it. Given it was a Paul Thomas Anderson Film (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Hard Eight), and it starred Daniel Day Lewis (currently the best actor alive), and it had been critically acclaimed (including by my boy Paul Tatara), my anticipation level to see it was somewhere between incredibly high and foaming at the mouth.



And, I'm happy to say, it lived up to its billing. It was awesome. (How's that for an in-depth review?) I've seen No Country for Old Men, and though I enjoyed that film, TWBB blows it out of the water. In Boogie Nights, it seems that Anderson was clearly channeling Scorsese in his approach. In this movie, it's Kubrick who gets the homage, which is all the better as far as I'm concerned. (Going from Scorsese to Kubrick is like going from phenomenal to transcendent in my opinion.) Throw in the fact that musical score was done by one of the Radiohead guys, and I'm totally sold. Day Lewis is flawless as usual. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I think it should have easily won best picture.


Something else which caught my attention lately was this. It's a PBS Frontline special on the war in Iraq, from its planning stages to its current state. (Props to my boy Eryn for pointing it out to me.) It's a couple hours long divided into multiple 10 minute segments, all of which are pretty transfixing. I'll hold back on the commentary at this point, other than to say that it is unreal exactly how much the Bush administration is getting away with. Absolutely shameful. (What's even sadder is how much this is common knowledge, and yet nothing happens. Nothing gets done about it. Just sad. Every time I see a wounded soldier, which is daily I might add, it just makes me angry.) Check it out.


On that note, I'm out. Random picture time. In honor of this weekend's draft, here's hoping the Cowboys draft the next "Boz".