Grand Junction CO Parade of Lights!
My name is Denver Lancaster. I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy graduated from Regis University working for Gottsche Rehab in Cody, WY.
12/3/11
11/26/11
10/24/11
Worksite Ergonomics
Denver
10/11/11
Freakonomics Repost...
Freakonomics is one of my favorite blogs. This is a post about the new Danish fat tax and just how misguided policy makers were in creating this legislation... This fat tax, as pointed out in the article by Steve Sexton, disadvantages the poor for being too poor to make healthy eating decisions.
This kind of legislation has proven marginally effective in the past with smoking cessation. As a sin tax, smoking cessation is completely that unhealthy eating. EVERYBODY HAS TO EAT. And we can't all afford $5.00 - $9.00 for a red pepper at the Community No-Op.
Anyway, great article. The answer isn't always just "live more like us healthy people!" Give it a read:
The Orwellian Efficiency of a “Being Fat” Tax
-d
9/30/11
LBP and Muscle Sequencing
My first wordcloud! Research we are presenting (poster) at CSM. I cannot wait to put this image in a PPT for research night on campus!!!
9/13/11
8/11/11
GCB ride! Ryan's first ride. No big deal.
A major part of my weight loss plan this year has been drinking beer. Yep. Beer. Beer has helped me lose weight. How?? With a 26 mile round trip ride from my house to Golden City Brewery. I have great friends that go on this ride with me on a regular basis!
Seriously though, I have been biking a lot more, and am now down to 222 - 1 pound away from the 40lb mark!!!! It hasn't been a dramatic or life changing story. There wasn't anything except a little confidence and a lot of boredom that led to me riding my bike more, and swimming a little bit while I was on my last clinical rotation. Once I started SEEING and FEELING the weight loss (ease of sleeping, pants sizes dropping, pretty girls smiling at me, etc...) I became more motivated, rode a little more, and then started eating a little less. Baby Steps. It felt like the first 20 pounds came off over night. It came off so fast I was actually worried it was a little unhealthy. Once I got under 240 it started slowing down - being back in class might have changed the trajectory, as well. Still, my weight is trending downward.
261 lbs on Memorial Day 2011.
Goal: 215 by Halloween.
7/30/11
Today on the scale: 229
I stepped on the scale on Memorial Day at 261. I was in Hastings Nebraska on a clinical rotation which left my afternoons (from 2PM and later) completely open. I dropped from 261 to 229 by eating a little less, and a little healthier, and being active a lot more. It started with walking (a mile) to the gym to swim. Then I dusted off the road bike. Biking 2 - 3 days/wk, swimming 2x weekly (sometimes the same day as biking), and walking back and forth to groceries, the gym, and the hospital. None of it was dramatic - except maybe the biking. But I love riding my bicycle. It was an easy change to make.
My goal, from here on out, is to continue exercising into my final semester going into my last two clinical rotations. The first 35 pounds came off very quickly once I got interested, but I know that my happy routine will be challenged with school, moving, and new clinical experiences. My goal, by May 2012, is to be under 210 lbs. GET 'ER DONE!
-d
7/25/11
7/18/11
Chondrocyte Implantation Procedure Presentation
Additional Resources and Research (*.rar format) and My PPT Presentation
I just presented a case study presentation on a patient I saw in my last clinical rotation. The purpose of the presentation was to explore 3rd Generation Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) indications and contraindications for therapy.
To briefly summarize, rehab protocols and movement restriction post-op depends GREATLY on the site and size of the site grafted with chondrocytes. The patient in the case presented had chondrocytes grafted to the articular surface of his patella. Compression of the grafting site can decrease chondrocyte proliferation by more than half of un-compressed controls. This compression is not immediately reversible, either, as chondrocyte proliferation begins to plateau at 7 days post op (in animal studies).
Different portions of the patella articulate with the femur depending on the angle of knee bend. The portion of the patella which was grafted with juvenile chondrocytes would have articulated with the femur between 30 and 60-70 degrees. Tension through the quadricep inside that range would compress the patella and grafting site directly into the femur and hurt chondrocyte proliferation.
In order to effectively decide on a protocol, we, as autonomous practitioners of PT, have a foundation in sciences (such as biomechanics, kindesiology, cell biology, research) to keep up to date with novel surgical procedures. We have the skills, abilities, and informational background to make clinical decisions for patients as technology continues to advance in the medical field. Don't get left behind.
I just presented a case study presentation on a patient I saw in my last clinical rotation. The purpose of the presentation was to explore 3rd Generation Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) indications and contraindications for therapy.
To briefly summarize, rehab protocols and movement restriction post-op depends GREATLY on the site and size of the site grafted with chondrocytes. The patient in the case presented had chondrocytes grafted to the articular surface of his patella. Compression of the grafting site can decrease chondrocyte proliferation by more than half of un-compressed controls. This compression is not immediately reversible, either, as chondrocyte proliferation begins to plateau at 7 days post op (in animal studies).
Different portions of the patella articulate with the femur depending on the angle of knee bend. The portion of the patella which was grafted with juvenile chondrocytes would have articulated with the femur between 30 and 60-70 degrees. Tension through the quadricep inside that range would compress the patella and grafting site directly into the femur and hurt chondrocyte proliferation.
In order to effectively decide on a protocol, we, as autonomous practitioners of PT, have a foundation in sciences (such as biomechanics, kindesiology, cell biology, research) to keep up to date with novel surgical procedures. We have the skills, abilities, and informational background to make clinical decisions for patients as technology continues to advance in the medical field. Don't get left behind.
1.Buckwalter JA. Articular Cartilage: injuries and potential for healing. J of Ortho Spo
2.Hettrich C, Crawford D, Rodeo, Scott. Cartilage Repair: Third-Generation Cell-based Technologies – Basic Science, Surgical Techniques, and Clinical Outcomes. Sports Med Arthrosc Rev. 16:4; 2008.
3.Kon E, Gobb A, Filardo G, et al. Arthroscopic Second Generation Autologous Chondrocyte Implantion Compared with Microfracture for Chondral Lesions of the Knee. Am J Sports Med. 37:33; 2009.
4.Li K, Falcovitz YH, Nagrampa JP, Chen AC, et al. Mechanical Compression Modulates Proliferation of Transplanted Chondrocytes. J Orthop Res. 18:3; 2000
5.Levangie PK, Norkin CC. Joint Structure And Function: A Comprehensive Analysis Fourth (4th) Edition. 4th Edition; 2005.
7/15/11
7/14/11
A fish does not know it is in water.
From lifehacker:
"The point: it's easy to forget that what surrounds you is only normal because it's what you know. To others, those surroundings might seem pretty strange."
This is a little off topic specifically... When I am really stressed out, I have a tendency to forget about everything going on around me, and just focus on me, and my stress. It's like being in murky water with junk floating around in it. I focus so much on myself, and the things happening to me in the immediate present - more of a mechanical response to stimuli, like some kind of a survival instinct. I completely lose sight of the future, and can't see anything else happening around me. Just me, stuck in the murky water alone.
Also, when I get stressed out, I apparently misplace things. I found my wallet in the freezer a few days ago, and this morning put my glasses in the dishwasher. Wallet is fine. My glasses got all bendy and look like they belong on a wax figure from Ripley's Believe it or Not.
"The point: it's easy to forget that what surrounds you is only normal because it's what you know. To others, those surroundings might seem pretty strange."
This is a little off topic specifically... When I am really stressed out, I have a tendency to forget about everything going on around me, and just focus on me, and my stress. It's like being in murky water with junk floating around in it. I focus so much on myself, and the things happening to me in the immediate present - more of a mechanical response to stimuli, like some kind of a survival instinct. I completely lose sight of the future, and can't see anything else happening around me. Just me, stuck in the murky water alone.
Also, when I get stressed out, I apparently misplace things. I found my wallet in the freezer a few days ago, and this morning put my glasses in the dishwasher. Wallet is fine. My glasses got all bendy and look like they belong on a wax figure from Ripley's Believe it or Not.
7/2/11
6/29/11
6/28/11
Do more, eat less, eat better. Cheating is okay.
This was a great article I read recently about one man's struggle dramatic weight loss without a dramatic struggle. The writer did a great job hitting every part of being fat and changing - what it feels like, social stigma, how people responded to the weight loss, all the failed fad diets and failed attempts, self efficacy, environment, support, mechanics, goals, etc...All the weight loss took was a change in lifestyle activity! That's it. He started walking more (partially because he had to moving to New York). He saw a nutritionist at one point, when he came to a plateau, worked out a simple plan and lost even more. He said he wanted to cheat and eat things he shouldn't, and did sometimes. He ended on a note which was particularly poignant about encouraging other people to make change - basically that you can't. The process is simple, but it either takes motivation or forced lifestyle change. Change will happen when the pain of the solution is less than the pain of the problem.
How I Lost 80 Pounds!
How I Lost 80 Pounds!
6/25/11
6/22/11
38.6 Miles of Pudendal Compression and 25mph Headwind
38.6mi. 2hr 28min 18sec. HRavg=167 Max=188. AvgSpeed=15.3mph. TopSpeed=28.3. 1hr 28min HR>168bpm. BAM!
On Wednesday I went riding with a group in Hastings in an effort to get out of my dorm room. It's probably the best time outside of clinic I've had since I've been here! Fun group of people, too bad I didn't meet them 6 weeks ago. Weekly rides at 6PM leaving from the museum. I've attached a couple pictures of the ride and other rides from around Hastings.
Coming up on my last week in Hastings Nebraska at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital. My rotation here has been in the Med/Surg, Progressive Medical, ICU, Oncology, and Acute floors of the hospital. I've seen a lot (of bowel movement), to say the least. It's been a good learning experience, trying to keep up with the patient load and the pace going from room to room with evals cropping up faster than the freaking corn in this state!
It's an 8 week rotation and I'm one week away from the end. I have 2 more rotations starting in October and January - 12 weeks each. The 8 weeks away from home have been a drag. I miss home, the dog, cat, garden, civilization, etc... Pics of the dog and cat while I'm gone doing silly things. Here they are on the right. She woke up one morning and they were both staring at her. The other picture is the cat taking the dog bed, and the dog wanting to play. I wish I could have been there to see it! 7 days from now I will be home again, then back on the road. I'm not already packed to leave Hastings NE (YESIAM).And now for the Hastings Nebraska picture slide show for your viewing pleasure. I want to start with a picture I call IRONY:
Neighborhood Watch. Wait... WHAT? This was on a bike ride. 8 miles from nothing in any direction along the side of highway 281. All that's missing is a scarecrow (unless someone stole it).
A picture from another part of town. South side of town. Paul's House of Pancakes on the right, dust and corn on the left.
Found this monolith on another ride. It has nothing to do with 2001, technology, or intelligence. A big stupid rock, 15 miles from nothing. #exceptcorn. This monument depicts two brothers riding away from an Indian attack (#cowboysandindiansinreallife). An arrow pinned the two boys together. Then it fell out and they lived. The arrow is ACTUALLY ON DISPLAY at the Hastings Museum next to a gigantic vat of Kool Aid.
This is a picture I took on a ride on the west side of town.
This is a pic of the west side of town.
Here's the East side of town.
That's it. Dust. Corn. Peace out.
-d
6/21/11
Feed Your Eyes on This or In Web2.0, Literature Searches YOU!
I apologize for their not being any audio - you would have had to have been there... Comments Welcome!
The Presentation PDF
Useful Resources
Obscure Yakov Smirnoff "In Soviet Russia..." joke
Demonstrations:
The Presentation PDF
Useful Resources
Obscure Yakov Smirnoff "In Soviet Russia..." joke
Demonstrations:
- Signing up for Google Reader (if you don't already have an account)
- Here you can see how quick and easy it SHOULD be to sign up for a google reader account. It can, however, go terribly wrong, too - and probably will if you try to work it into a presentation.
- Netvibes Highlights
- More features than Google Reader - more of a homepage app than Google Reader, with widget support! See your email, common searches, and other things all on one page in several small widgets which you can organize and reorder however you please.
- Adding Feeds from PUBMED and the APTA
- FINDING RSS to subscribe to by unsubscribing to a feed with a similar tags if you can't find it in a search!
- Sometimes the search function in google doesn't yield the results I'm looking for - in this case it was the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. No dice. I DID find it when I unsubscribed from another PT related RSS feed. #iheartshortcuts
- Tweetdeck
- Organize common twitter hashtag searches into columns so you can see everything you care about quickly, instead searching each individually. There are other programs like it, I use this one.
1 thing I could have emphasized more was Tags and Organization. Tags help you find things along common threads throughout the internet. Searching a hashtag like #pain on twitter will give you all kinds of results. Use them accordingly to classify and thread items you wish to save or recall for later - either with cloud based apps like Evernote or Springpad, blogs, or more traditional desktop apps like Onenote. Finding a balance between over-tagging and under-tagging is an art. You want to be descriptive without washing out the exclusivity of each tag. If you figure out a good system, let me know...
-d
5/17/11
5/8/11
4/26/11
Where's my 40?
Practical exams, I've decided, isn't about showing off what you've learned - it's strictly an endurance test. Yeah you have to do stuff. Hopefully it's stuff you've been doing for weeks now. With MM and MAP out of the way, now only an NM practical and 4 final exams stand between me and my third clinical rotation which should (final grades pending) be in Hastings Nebraska at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital. I also got word today that CE IV is going to put me in Irving Texas at the Centre for Neuro Skills - a dedicated neuro rehab facility. It's another long commute, but definitely quality added. CE III (out of order, sorry) is going to be in Grand Junction at Soar PT with Britt Smith. I am psyched for that, too!
On a side note, I'm writing now because I managed to lock myself out of the house and haven't mustered the energy yet to jump the 6' fence yet. I want to be a PT, not be IN PT. Just sitting on my patio watching ants. They are back and massed up just below the first step of the porch. I've kinda been playing tower defense against them. They managed to take a caterpillar hostage - that's been kind of interesting to watch, I guess.
5 more evaluative activities and then released (mostly) from the shackles of academia to ACTUALLY DO GOOD. Happy finals everyone.
4/11/11
4/8/11
Rec Femoris Causes an Extensor Moment at the Hip
Spent the weekend at the Rocky Mountain Chapter American Society of Biomechanics meeting (RMASB). It was a cool conference showcasing research done by graduate students and researchers in the region. One of the presentations that blew my mind was by Darryl Thelen about biarticulate muscles. Using a computer model, he showed that the over-activation of the rectus femoris muscle causes extension at the hip. Then, he showed that it worked on a real human being. Then he showed that it works on real human beings in normal walking, and not just theoretical models or controlled experiments. Very cool. Link to his abstract with the NIH: http://bit.ly/hNr8ET The message I took from his presentation was that the mechanics of the human body are far more complicated than muscle origins and insertions.
There was also an outstanding presentation by Alena Grabowski about her work with MIT in the development of a mechanical prosthetic ankle which simulated normal ankle responses. The prosthetic ankle improved gait mechanics and reduced energy expenditures to within normal levels!
After platforms and poster presentations (I did one!) the first night, several of us from different schools got together for
I also got to present a poster on FRR (flexion relaxation response) and low back pain. The research I'm doing right now is related to the sequence of activation of the glute max, lumbar erector spinae, and thoracic erector spinae. People in the study who developed back pain have a distinctly different sequence of activation of those muscle groups when returning to standing from a forward flexed position. Very cool stuff. Here is a picture of me explaining it.
This is going in my portfolio.
A few more pics I took wandering around at Estes Park YMCA:
RegisDPT achieving great heights. GO PT!
We're on a ROCK!
Thinking on a ROCK!
Sun setting over the rockies. I don't know what mountain, specifically. Erika is the one with the fancy phone app with mountain names.
Blue skies shining on me, nothing but blue skies...
Elk. I took one step and he lifted his head and stared at me. No Pics - I just left. No need to get mauled today. Awesome sunrise!
A view from the back door of the conference. Spec-freaking-tacular.
4/4/11
Should I be studying? Probably...
So sometime around spring break this year I thought it would be good to buy a new toy tool. I wanted a tablet for school mostly so I could read journal articles (more sustainable than printing them, right?). That was the big excuse. Since I bought it, I have managed to sell my cell phone and go off contract completely (no more cell bill) and no longer scan coffee shops and class rooms for seats close to an electrical outlet for my now cumbersome feeling netbook. Not bad for under 300 bucks! It isn't without hiccups here and there, but nothing I haven't found some kind of a workaround for.
 |
| The Homescreen! Circle Launcher used to set up sweet looking buttons stolen from the Wind7HD something or other theme for ADW Launcher. |
This is a thought of possible clinical significance - I can resize the little white circles so that only a couple would fit on the screen. This gtablet has to be cheaper than some of the "talky" buttons and systems set up to help children with disabilities communicate better - and Android lends itself to easy customization for anyone with patience. Cheap(ish) easily customizable talky tool? Maybe...
 |
| All 3 home screens - I can swipe left to right for calendar/organizer/mail, or news/social networking/media. Center for app launchers and a sweet clock! |
 |
| Even geekier if you've read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galexy. |
This is the boot screen. It was a pain in the butt I can't even begin to explain to get this to boot as an image instead of the stupid viewsonic birds and ugly green and black G-tablet logo. Don't Panic, in large friendly letters. Nice visual cue in the midst of my final full 16 wk semester of grad school. I still wouldn't recommend this modification to anyone that didn't want to learn to compile in linux. Enjoy. If you've got a gtablet and you're running Calkulin's 1.1 Rom, I can send you the boot image and you can have "Don't Panic" on yours, too, without the stress of linux.
Favorites are yellow, green is stuff I don't think I could survive without. Otherwise enjoy a huge clumsy list of everything running on my Gtab.
- Plume for Twitter
- ROM Manager
- Titanium Media Sync
- Thumb Keyboard (Phone/Tablet)
- MobileNoter SE
- CircleLauncher
- JustPictures!
- Aldiko Book Reader
- Robo Defense FREE
- Springpad
- Simple Loan Calculator
- Multi Mount SD-Card Lite
- Speed Anatomy
- Swype Keyboard
- AlarmDroid [Alarm Clock]
- Words With Friends Free
- SlideIT Keyboard
- 8pen
- Business Calendar
- Angry Birds Rio
- Poynt
- Blackjack 2011
- ES File Explorer
- Street View on Google Maps
- Voice Search
- Google Voice
- Google Voice Callback FREE
- Facebook for Android
- Quickoffice Pro
- Flash Player 10.2
- AirAttack HD Part 1
- Drift Mania Championship Lite
- FBReader
- Mozilla Firefox Web Browser
- PewPew
- Extended Controls
- Winamp
- Titanium Backup ★ root
- Advanced Clock Widget
- ExtDate Widget
- tTorrent Lite
- Amazon.com
- OfficeSuite Pro (Trial)
- Wheelz - Free Edition
- ShootMe (Screen Grabber)
- Medscape
- Honeycomb Clock FREE
- AndroidPhone7 (ADWTheme)
- Black Glass ADW Theme
- ADW.Elegant Theme
- Honeycomb ADW Theme
- SketchBook Express
- Casino Blackjack
- Skyfire Web Browser 3.0
- PokerTraining
- Advanced Task Cleaner 2.0
- RockPlayer Lite
- ROM Manager (Premium)
- Miren Browser
- Seesmic (Facebook, Twitter)
- Transparent Clock Widget 2x2
- Snowstorm weather widget
- CSipSimple
- GTasks
- mNote
- CalWidget
- Unrar
- Layar
- GUN BROS
- AppBrain App Market
- GDocs
- Cover Art Downloader
- Wordfeud FREE
- AnyPost
- Dropbox
- FeedR News Reader
- Root Explorer (File Manager)
- ADWLauncher EX
- WolframAlpha
- RepliGo Reader
- Titanium Backup PRO Key ★ root
- Adobe® Reader®
- Google Maps
- Gmail
- Google Search
- YouTube
- Quick Boot (Reboot)
View this Android app list on AppBrain
I'm not trying to sell this or anything, but THUMB keyboard is awesome. SlideIt is a crumby knock off of Swype (which I can't get to work) but gets the job done when I need it to.
Peripherals:
 |
| My keyboard. If you zoom in it says "Genius" Light weight and cheap, but corded. All the kids at school make fun of me for my corded keyboard. |
 |
| I made this from a pile of junk (see previous post). 2 binder clips, a door hinge, and some sugru to keep it from scratching |
 |
| View from the rear. Also showcases my sweet carbon-fiber stick on vinyl covering. This is way better than the stupid G-tablet logo and a nice texture. |
 |
| Front Profile |
Love my new deadguy hat!
Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland CO. Sweet new hat courtesy of my checking account. Got there too late to see the coffin-races, but got some beer, saw some live music, and was blown over by slightly less than hurricane level winds. Success!
I was pretty much sold on Nederland when I heard they had a dead guy in a shed. Alpaca store sealed the deal!
Frozen.
A sense of humor about having a dead guy frozen in a cabin in your town.
4/3/11
Gtablet in my future?
Enhance focus in class by taking notes on a tablet. Ideas for android tablet apps? File this under experiments, RegisDPT, and notangrybirds.
Update: Success!
I have managed to replace my phone, laptop, and attention span with a g-Tablet!
Update: Success!
I have managed to replace my phone, laptop, and attention span with a g-Tablet!
3/19/11
Happy to be SPT
A post from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed about the hardest exam ever. Great blog.
http://ping.fm/ilr4Q
http://ping.fm/ilr4Q
3/10/11
3/2/11
Conservative Treatment!!!
So you're saying there might be something to conservative treatments... like physical therapy? Shameless plug for my profession-to-be.
Aggressive Diabetes Therapy May Raise Death Risk
2/25/11
2/24/11
Goal #4, or maybe 3? I don't remember anymore.
I finally went out on my roadbike. Its been too long. Seeing me ride by must look like getting passed by a large silvery colored Shrek. I don't care. My goal of gradually increasing my ride distance to Golden and back is a good plan. One ride at a time!
File this under goals...
Because who doesn't want to build their own automated home security from the ground up?
How to Monitor and Control Your Home From Anywhere
http://ping.fm/AOzFF2/15/11
Teacher Hit Me With a Ruler
A commitment to quality . . .
...let me explain...
This is the last full (16 week) semester of my Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Regis University. It's not over yet. It is a very busy semester. It is busy in a purely volumetric way. The whole program has been so far. There are towers of articles to read. There are multiple (different) groups for even more projects. Video assignments skill checks, live skills checks, skills checks formatted like practicals, practicals, quizzes, papers, service learning, and finally service learning now, to consider.
Life gets busy and I lose track of myself at times - more times than I care to admit. When I get stressed out like this, it brings me back to the rules, and I want to explain what that means to me. I got these from my friends Mark and Joe. I know the rules have changed, many times, but I've stuck to these ones.
The Rules:
Rule #1: Keep Your Mouth Shut
As it was told to me, Rule #1 means SHUT UP. See Rule #4. When I start thinking I do, forgetting Rule #1 gets me in trouble. See Rule #2.
Rule #2: You Reap What You Sow
This isn't a rule as much as it is a hope. Joe would say, I hope you reap what you sow so you learn something from it. I've ruined rule number 1 more times than I care to remember and end up getting Rule #2'd HARD. Hopefully, though, I keep learning from my mistakes.
Rule #3: No One Can Help Your or Be Helped By You if You Won't Help Yourself
I believe this one speaks for itself but seems more applicable right now in my life. I sometimes feel like I am struggling in school, and "spinning my wheels" way more than I should be to get some things done. I get frustrated with class sometimes because I don't know what's going on - but it's usually because I'm not paying attention. I need to wake up and get with the program before I start criticizing others for making my life feel more complicated.
Rule #4: You Do Not Know Everything
See rule #1, See Rule #2. Breathe.
Rule #5: Pull When Possible
Joe's model of leadership - if you push a string of pearls (I'm not calling anyone in my class a pearl) they go in every direction, but if you pull them, lead by example, and DO something first they will achieve a graceful order.
Rule #6: First Seek to Understand, Then to Be Understood
In this order: See Rule #4, #1, #2, #5, #6. School or personal life. I need to listen more to what other people are trying to communicate, not just to what they are saying. And then respond in a meaningful way to them. I'm terrible at using my words to communicate what I'm thinking or feeling about anything. This isn't just "active listening." I hate when people say that. You're still only listing to make sure you get every last word of what a person says - I think people still have (I certainly do) a propensity for hearing the words and skipping the context. Ours is one of the few cultures in which ALL of the emphasis is put on the communicator to accurately make a point so that the other person can make his or her own point. I need to learn to understand better when I listen. This one matters.
Rule #7: Do The Job, And Do It Well
That's it. Simple. If you're going to do something do it to completion. Mark, when reviewing it as an addendum to The Rules, was going to call it "Do the dishes." He literally meant "do the dishes" and not just do some of the dishes. In finding figurative meaning to #7, I think to a glass of wine I was drinking a couple of nights ago. I had previously done a pitiful job washing a wine glass. When it came time to enjoy a new glass of wine some days later, my enjoyment of said spirit was attenuated by several floating specs of what I can only call disappointment. It was my own laziness in the past (which at the time was the present) that ruined my present (which is now the past) glass of wine. If I had finished the job well the first time, I would have enjoyed the fruits of my labor later on. Mark's #7 was a roommate conflict. He has since taken this off the list of rules. I have, however, decided I'm keeping it along with the first 6, and am going to start adopting my own.
Rule under review:
Rule #8: Find a Way
It is close in context to rule #7 and in that I'm not sure belongs on the list. I'm mulling it over. While similar in face value to "Git 'Er Done" but wiff intecity. There are 2 stories that come to my mind when I say Find a Way - the first is of high school football. I might actually be making this up. I'm not sure anymore. IF I were a HS football coach talking to me, I would tell me to find a way to stop the guy who was 50 pounds my superior. It's as much a form of delegation as it is leadership - I don't care how you do it, find a way to achieve the end product. It also reminds me of a chapter of Blink (by Malcom Gladwell) where the US was playing war games with it self. It pitted General VanRipper to head the "Red Team" and gave him make-believe cruise missiles, rubber boats, and a small but dedicated force of follower. The military gave the "Blue Team" all the technology in the world in order to better dictate every possible aspect of the war. VanRipper didn't know anything about the enemy but sent some guys out in rubber boats with make-believe bombs in the middle of the night and said "Sink the bigger boats, I don't care how." And they did. just about all of them. Blue exit stage right.
Anyway...
(have somebody in the room hum the tune of something patriotic while you read this last part)
I'm here. I'm in my second year of PT school with most of the hard work behind me. I have to find a way to survive this final full semester and still find the energy to exploit every opportunity for academic, professional, and personal growth I have - starting with my neuro exam tomorrow...
-d
2/12/11
Wiki presentation, lbp, or probono clinics?
What to do Saturday... I'm thinking presentation about the use of wikis and physical therapy.
Update: It was a good talk from Eric Robertson and Rachel Lowe about Physiopedia and how PTs and Students can learn from and contribute to the cause. Collaborative efforts are always difficult until someone gets the ball going. This is a great place for PT related information.
Update: It was a good talk from Eric Robertson and Rachel Lowe about Physiopedia and how PTs and Students can learn from and contribute to the cause. Collaborative efforts are always difficult until someone gets the ball going. This is a great place for PT related information.
1/30/11
Kitchen PC
My latest project. I took apart an old laptop and reversed the screen. Running an older version of ubuntu as th os which replaced windows xp. I also tried Puppy Linux, Slitaz, netbook remix, android, chrome, jollicloud, mint, and one or two other operating systems that did not bear fruit.
I found a cheapo mini wireless keyboard and had to order additional ram to bring the old laptop up to speed. There are broken coat hangers bent into brackets to hold the laptop in place, and zip ties keeping the cords out of view.
Its in place as a dedicated kitchen pc. I tabbed and book marked various meal planning websites, extensions, and applications. Lots of different timers, organizers, and index applications for recipes and cooking. Springpad is the tool i think i will rely on the most. There are also a few multimedia apps for streaming and uploading music from various sources, including dropbox as a means for uploading media from remote locations easily. I'm open to thoughts and ideas for making this more functional.
1 project down, 11 to go.
-d
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6
1/29/11
BRILLIANT!
Outlet eject button! Brilliant. This could definitely make homes safer for people whose balance may be compromised.
Outlet Eject Buttons: For the Sake of Old People Everywhere
http://ping.fm/3NsXzThanks Netflix!
2% credit because netflix wasnt working for a couple hours? The cable company would never refund money if it stopped working for a couple hours. Great reminder of how often netflix isn't down and how much better off I am with them.
CUT THE CORD!
CUT THE CORD!
1/13/11
Screwed again!
Thanks for the additional punch in the face verizon. As if cell phone conpanies weren't shady or greedy enough already. http://ping.fm/PjIfZ
1/12/11
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)