Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Why having a blog is kind of cool sometimes
Because sometimes you write something that results in your birthday being the #1 Google result when people search for "great things in history" (But without the quotes).
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
I done gradyeeated!
Saturday morning, up at the University, I put on my fancy PhD robes and walked across the stage at Kingsbury Hall, got hooded, picked up my diploma and then had to sit there for another hour while other people did the same. It was a good day. Definitely brings some closure to the whole experience. Much more so than had I just gotten a diploma in the mail. Also, now I have some fancy robes in case I ever need those. Like for Halloween, or graduation-themed parties.
Special thanks to my family for coming to support me and for taking me to lunch after at Cheesecake.
More photos here.
Special thanks to my family for coming to support me and for taking me to lunch after at Cheesecake.
More photos here.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Utah man sir, will be til I die! Ki-yi!
Just picked up the final printed/bound copies of my dissertation. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this means I'm all done. And by all done, I mean ALL done. All DONE. ALL DONE. After approximately 10 years of being a student at the University, I think I may have finally finished up with that.
I was up at the U last month for a concert and my friend asked me how long I'd been familiar with the U campus. I really had to think about that, because it's been a part of my life for so long -- well before I ever was a student there. When I was a kid my dad would take us to the Natural History museum to look at the dinosaur bones on a Saturday or a day we were out of school. A little later, we took some youth education courses there at the Museum, including one that my saintly mother had to lie about my age to get me into.
Anyway, aside from those classes (I remember taking one on animal intelligence, but don't remember if we went to others), I also remembering going to Utah football games as a very young child, and my dad making us walk what seemed like miles and miles (he parked at the old Armory on Guardsman Way), and then feeling like the games lasted for hours and hours. What I mostly remember was that we had candy, and eating too much of it. When I was a little older we went to a Utah football game for my birthday one year. I continued going to Utah football and basketball games off and on as I was growing up, and we always watched the teams on TV.
When I was in 7th grade, I participated in something called Utah Talent Search where they let middle school kids take the ACT, and I won a scholarship to a summer youth education program called the Youth Academy of Excellence, (nerd camp basically) at the University of Utah. My parents bought me a bus pass and for two weeks I would ride UTA in from Grantsville to downtown Salt Lake and then transfer up to the U. Our group would meet in the Union building and we often take field trips off campus or to labs on campus to learn about interesting stuff. I usually got to the Union a little before things were going to get started, and loved to watch college kids play NBA Jam and try to see what codes they used to unlock secret players or other upgrades. One time I even saw two guys open up a weird mode where they were driving polygon tanks and shooting at stuff. But I digress. I participated in the Youth Academy of Excellence the next summer as well, and I have to say I miss some of the fountains that used to be on campus. When I was up there today, I noticed that the fountain between Student Services and the Union, which hasn't had water in it for years is now gone. There also used to be one over by the old business loop, where the Museum of Fine Arts is located now.
As I moved on to high school, I think most of my interaction with the U surrounded coming to sporting events. I remember one year my friend's dad had a tailgate permit and we used to come up before the games in their van and eat KFC in the parking lot. One game it the weather was terrible, and I'm not ashamed to admit we stayed in the van listening to the game on the radio rather than go out and sit in the rain. Obviously I outgrew those days. :)
As I neared high school graduation, I received lots of mail from lots of colleges all over the country. Not sure how they find out about you, but somehow they do. I went to USU for Engineering State the summer after my Junior year and had a lot of fun at that, and went back the following December to test for their uber-top scholarships (didn't get one). My brother was already a student up there and I thought that might be a fun place to go. I even went on a recruiting weekend at BYU. The U never invited me up for anything as far as I can recall, but when it came to apply for admissions I only sent apps to Utah and USU. I was accepted at both with a marginally better scholarship offer from the U. I'm not 100% sure how I ended up deciding to go there, but I do recall my dad suggesting that quality of school might matter more in the long run than just having lots of fun.
Anyhow, I ended up choosing the U, and also getting into a summer high school research program where I "got to" live in the old dorms during the week. I had a room in Van Cott Hall and let's just say generations of student will forever underappreciate the quality of the new dorms/Olympic Village. I spend the summer working in a genetics lab up in the Eccles Human Genetics building, where among other things, I fed fruit flies and harvest larvae. Something about the experience led me to decide that I didn't want to be a geneticist. Which left me in a bit of a quandry about what I ought to study in my time at the U.
That fall I got an apartment with a couple of my high school friends who were also going to be going to the U (I think there were only 3 of 4 of us from my graduating class who came to Salt Lake, most college-bound folks went to USU, BYU, SUU, or elsewhere), and for about a month we were just chillin' in our super cheap bachelor pad (we were paying $500/month split 4 ways). I had a variety of one-time payment scholarships, so I didn't have to work that year and just got used to the college life of homework and tests and what not. I met one of my best friends, Shawn, in my biology and calculus class (taught by KG himself, Ken Golden) and we've been great friends since then. He just lived down the hill from campus and often after classes we'd hop in my silver shuttle (1987 Toyota Mini-van) and cruise down to his place, which was infinitely nicer than mine, and then he'd kick my butt at SFII. My high school friend roommates got into a fair amount of booze and a little bit of drugs, so I was glad to have an LDS friend to relate to. Two of the four moved out at the end of the first quarter and we found random roommates by posting openings up on campus.
I was a biology major for just one quarter (this was the last year the U was on quarters) and then decided Computer Science was the life for me. Unfortunately because we were now 1 quarter into a 3 quarter year and when I got back from my mission the U would be on semesters, I couldn't really get started on coursework for my pre-reqs, other than finishing up my Calc series and taking a bunch of generals, along with an Intro CS course, taught by one of my all time favorite CS profs, JZ (Joe Zachary). The Runnin' Utes advanced to the national title game that spring, nearly winning the title.
In the spring, I got my mission call to Argentina, and enjoyed what would be the last Mayfest (what with the changing of the schedule), where Everclear came and played on the Union lawn for free, and other bands were jamming all week long. In June, I headed back home to G-ville for a couple weeks and then hit the road for two years of awesome missionary life.
Upon returning to the U, School kept me busy as I finished pre-reqs and got into the CS program. I got a job as a receptionist at the College of Pharmacy, one of my all-time favorite jobs. If only $8.00 an hour were enough to live on. :) I worked there full-time in the summer and then part-time when school was back in, including walking up there from parking down at the old dorms during the Olympics when everything up by the village was fenced in. Every day, I would watch inspectors check cars with more access than mine for explosives while I walked past with my backpack unmolested. After two summers of working there, I applied for and got a job as a Teaching Assistant in the CS program and did that for the next year and a half or so. I worked a summer job as an intern for the LDS Church doing software development and testing in the Temple Department and made some great friends there, even some who were big (but rational) BYU fans.
I still found time to see my fair share of basketball, football, and volleyball games, and still remember the first pep rally that Urban Meyer came to and had his coming out party at. In my previous years I'd never seen a coach reach out to the student body like that and his enthusiasm and confidence that something special could happen at the U were contagious. His motto of "Why not us? Why not now?" set the tone for two amazing years, spanning my last year of undergrad and my first year of grad school.
That last summer before my last semester, I started thinking that maybe grad school was something I ought to do, since people kept asking me what I was going to do with my CS degree and I didn't really know other than "be a programmer". I just wasn't sold on doing more in-depth CS stuff. Another friend of mine was telling me about this Medical Informatics thing that was like a go-between for programmers and doctors and I ended up applying for that program and getting accepted. Now, my friend Jon just started his PhD in chemistry and he spend all spring flying out to visit various programs and getting wined and dined and recruited. I didn't even know if there were other schools that had a program called Medical Informatics and whether or not the U's progras was even a good one. Turns out it's perhaps the oldest or 2nd oldest program in the country. So, I guess I could have done a better job researching my options, but I really didn't even know what I was going to be studying to be honest, much less what kind of research I would be doing to get my degree. My initial plan was just to get a Master's degree (what would I do with a PhD?) but the department made me a funding offer that I couldn't refuse that was tied to my getting a PhD. So that's how I ended up doing 5 more years of school at the U.
During my time as a grad student, I spent a lot of time off-campus, working on my research project with Intermountain Healthcare. However, I also enjoyed being a member of the Muss, and seeing the Utah football team go to, and win, 2 BCS bowl games -- twice in my 5 years, can you believe it? I enjoyed going to see Yellowcard, Mos Def, Shiny Toy Guns, Girl Talk, and Lupe Fiasco live in concert, at free or low-low prices, on the Union lawn.
Long story short, I now have a great job working for Intermountain Healthcare, one of the worldwide leaders in Informatics and Electronic Medical Records, and I'll be getting hooded this weekend, bringing an end of sorts to my time at the U. However, as you can tell from this essay, I think it's pretty clear that the U will always have a special place in my heart and I'd be very surprised if I don't still make a habit of heading up to campus on a fairly regular basis, if for nothing else, to watch the football team kick some butt. Now if I could only find season tickets for less than $300/seat.
I was up at the U last month for a concert and my friend asked me how long I'd been familiar with the U campus. I really had to think about that, because it's been a part of my life for so long -- well before I ever was a student there. When I was a kid my dad would take us to the Natural History museum to look at the dinosaur bones on a Saturday or a day we were out of school. A little later, we took some youth education courses there at the Museum, including one that my saintly mother had to lie about my age to get me into.
Anyway, aside from those classes (I remember taking one on animal intelligence, but don't remember if we went to others), I also remembering going to Utah football games as a very young child, and my dad making us walk what seemed like miles and miles (he parked at the old Armory on Guardsman Way), and then feeling like the games lasted for hours and hours. What I mostly remember was that we had candy, and eating too much of it. When I was a little older we went to a Utah football game for my birthday one year. I continued going to Utah football and basketball games off and on as I was growing up, and we always watched the teams on TV.
When I was in 7th grade, I participated in something called Utah Talent Search where they let middle school kids take the ACT, and I won a scholarship to a summer youth education program called the Youth Academy of Excellence, (nerd camp basically) at the University of Utah. My parents bought me a bus pass and for two weeks I would ride UTA in from Grantsville to downtown Salt Lake and then transfer up to the U. Our group would meet in the Union building and we often take field trips off campus or to labs on campus to learn about interesting stuff. I usually got to the Union a little before things were going to get started, and loved to watch college kids play NBA Jam and try to see what codes they used to unlock secret players or other upgrades. One time I even saw two guys open up a weird mode where they were driving polygon tanks and shooting at stuff. But I digress. I participated in the Youth Academy of Excellence the next summer as well, and I have to say I miss some of the fountains that used to be on campus. When I was up there today, I noticed that the fountain between Student Services and the Union, which hasn't had water in it for years is now gone. There also used to be one over by the old business loop, where the Museum of Fine Arts is located now.
As I moved on to high school, I think most of my interaction with the U surrounded coming to sporting events. I remember one year my friend's dad had a tailgate permit and we used to come up before the games in their van and eat KFC in the parking lot. One game it the weather was terrible, and I'm not ashamed to admit we stayed in the van listening to the game on the radio rather than go out and sit in the rain. Obviously I outgrew those days. :)
As I neared high school graduation, I received lots of mail from lots of colleges all over the country. Not sure how they find out about you, but somehow they do. I went to USU for Engineering State the summer after my Junior year and had a lot of fun at that, and went back the following December to test for their uber-top scholarships (didn't get one). My brother was already a student up there and I thought that might be a fun place to go. I even went on a recruiting weekend at BYU. The U never invited me up for anything as far as I can recall, but when it came to apply for admissions I only sent apps to Utah and USU. I was accepted at both with a marginally better scholarship offer from the U. I'm not 100% sure how I ended up deciding to go there, but I do recall my dad suggesting that quality of school might matter more in the long run than just having lots of fun.
Anyhow, I ended up choosing the U, and also getting into a summer high school research program where I "got to" live in the old dorms during the week. I had a room in Van Cott Hall and let's just say generations of student will forever underappreciate the quality of the new dorms/Olympic Village. I spend the summer working in a genetics lab up in the Eccles Human Genetics building, where among other things, I fed fruit flies and harvest larvae. Something about the experience led me to decide that I didn't want to be a geneticist. Which left me in a bit of a quandry about what I ought to study in my time at the U.
That fall I got an apartment with a couple of my high school friends who were also going to be going to the U (I think there were only 3 of 4 of us from my graduating class who came to Salt Lake, most college-bound folks went to USU, BYU, SUU, or elsewhere), and for about a month we were just chillin' in our super cheap bachelor pad (we were paying $500/month split 4 ways). I had a variety of one-time payment scholarships, so I didn't have to work that year and just got used to the college life of homework and tests and what not. I met one of my best friends, Shawn, in my biology and calculus class (taught by KG himself, Ken Golden) and we've been great friends since then. He just lived down the hill from campus and often after classes we'd hop in my silver shuttle (1987 Toyota Mini-van) and cruise down to his place, which was infinitely nicer than mine, and then he'd kick my butt at SFII. My high school friend roommates got into a fair amount of booze and a little bit of drugs, so I was glad to have an LDS friend to relate to. Two of the four moved out at the end of the first quarter and we found random roommates by posting openings up on campus.
I was a biology major for just one quarter (this was the last year the U was on quarters) and then decided Computer Science was the life for me. Unfortunately because we were now 1 quarter into a 3 quarter year and when I got back from my mission the U would be on semesters, I couldn't really get started on coursework for my pre-reqs, other than finishing up my Calc series and taking a bunch of generals, along with an Intro CS course, taught by one of my all time favorite CS profs, JZ (Joe Zachary). The Runnin' Utes advanced to the national title game that spring, nearly winning the title.
In the spring, I got my mission call to Argentina, and enjoyed what would be the last Mayfest (what with the changing of the schedule), where Everclear came and played on the Union lawn for free, and other bands were jamming all week long. In June, I headed back home to G-ville for a couple weeks and then hit the road for two years of awesome missionary life.
Upon returning to the U, School kept me busy as I finished pre-reqs and got into the CS program. I got a job as a receptionist at the College of Pharmacy, one of my all-time favorite jobs. If only $8.00 an hour were enough to live on. :) I worked there full-time in the summer and then part-time when school was back in, including walking up there from parking down at the old dorms during the Olympics when everything up by the village was fenced in. Every day, I would watch inspectors check cars with more access than mine for explosives while I walked past with my backpack unmolested. After two summers of working there, I applied for and got a job as a Teaching Assistant in the CS program and did that for the next year and a half or so. I worked a summer job as an intern for the LDS Church doing software development and testing in the Temple Department and made some great friends there, even some who were big (but rational) BYU fans.
I still found time to see my fair share of basketball, football, and volleyball games, and still remember the first pep rally that Urban Meyer came to and had his coming out party at. In my previous years I'd never seen a coach reach out to the student body like that and his enthusiasm and confidence that something special could happen at the U were contagious. His motto of "Why not us? Why not now?" set the tone for two amazing years, spanning my last year of undergrad and my first year of grad school.
That last summer before my last semester, I started thinking that maybe grad school was something I ought to do, since people kept asking me what I was going to do with my CS degree and I didn't really know other than "be a programmer". I just wasn't sold on doing more in-depth CS stuff. Another friend of mine was telling me about this Medical Informatics thing that was like a go-between for programmers and doctors and I ended up applying for that program and getting accepted. Now, my friend Jon just started his PhD in chemistry and he spend all spring flying out to visit various programs and getting wined and dined and recruited. I didn't even know if there were other schools that had a program called Medical Informatics and whether or not the U's progras was even a good one. Turns out it's perhaps the oldest or 2nd oldest program in the country. So, I guess I could have done a better job researching my options, but I really didn't even know what I was going to be studying to be honest, much less what kind of research I would be doing to get my degree. My initial plan was just to get a Master's degree (what would I do with a PhD?) but the department made me a funding offer that I couldn't refuse that was tied to my getting a PhD. So that's how I ended up doing 5 more years of school at the U.
During my time as a grad student, I spent a lot of time off-campus, working on my research project with Intermountain Healthcare. However, I also enjoyed being a member of the Muss, and seeing the Utah football team go to, and win, 2 BCS bowl games -- twice in my 5 years, can you believe it? I enjoyed going to see Yellowcard, Mos Def, Shiny Toy Guns, Girl Talk, and Lupe Fiasco live in concert, at free or low-low prices, on the Union lawn.
Long story short, I now have a great job working for Intermountain Healthcare, one of the worldwide leaders in Informatics and Electronic Medical Records, and I'll be getting hooded this weekend, bringing an end of sorts to my time at the U. However, as you can tell from this essay, I think it's pretty clear that the U will always have a special place in my heart and I'd be very surprised if I don't still make a habit of heading up to campus on a fairly regular basis, if for nothing else, to watch the football team kick some butt. Now if I could only find season tickets for less than $300/seat.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Career Path reflections
A few times in the last couple weeks I've had a chance to reflect on how blessed I feel that things have worked out with my career to this point. The other day I was thinking back to high school when everyone would ask "What do you want to be when you grow up?" or then in college, "What's your major?", and even when I had a major (Computer Science), people would ask "What do you want to do with that?", and I'm not sure that for any of these questions I always had good answers. A lot of times I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, or how it was going to connect to the next step of getting me into a career that I would enjoy that would also be sufficient for providing for a family. I always felt bad when I didn't have a good, solid answer for those questions, but I guess I still managed to come out alright, so far, especially considering the job I have in these lean economic times.
Given that I am finally finished with my PhD and started a job that I am (so far) very pleased with, I have no choice but to be grateful for the way that things have worked out. Of course, I didn't even know what Medical Informatics was until a few months before I finished my undergraduate program, so it would have been hard for me to have this as my goal back then. I feel like at each step along the way, when the time came to decide what the next step would be, I was able to figure that out, even if I didn't always see all the way down the road to where it would take me in the end. I'm happy I was able to have faith to take those steps along the way, trusting that in the end I'd be somewhere good.
Seeing some people who are back at the start of that road, wondering what they want to do with their lives, I'm happy to be much further down the road and feel like it's worked out for the most part. But also I would say to them to seek the guidance of the spirit, and have faith in that, and in themselves, and then move forward with faith.
Given that I am finally finished with my PhD and started a job that I am (so far) very pleased with, I have no choice but to be grateful for the way that things have worked out. Of course, I didn't even know what Medical Informatics was until a few months before I finished my undergraduate program, so it would have been hard for me to have this as my goal back then. I feel like at each step along the way, when the time came to decide what the next step would be, I was able to figure that out, even if I didn't always see all the way down the road to where it would take me in the end. I'm happy I was able to have faith to take those steps along the way, trusting that in the end I'd be somewhere good.
Seeing some people who are back at the start of that road, wondering what they want to do with their lives, I'm happy to be much further down the road and feel like it's worked out for the most part. But also I would say to them to seek the guidance of the spirit, and have faith in that, and in themselves, and then move forward with faith.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Tonight, on a very special "Adventures of the Big Digital"...
This post has been several weeks in the making. While I'm sitting here today waiting for some queries to run (the data tubes appear to be pretty jammed up today), I figured I'd start writing it up.
This has certainly been a big year of changes for me already. I started my first "real" job in January, finally finished up everything for my PhD this semester (which reminds me I need to update the header on this blog, given that I'm no longer a student), moved to a new place after 2 years at my last one, and bought my first new car.
Along with all those great and exciting changes, I also had a big change that was kind of a bummer. I've been having some mysterious discomfort in my left side, about where the rib cage ends, and had a CT scan in January that didn't find anything noteworthy. Given that I was starting a new job and would be changing insurances with that change, I decided to wait to seek further answers until my new insurance kicked in. When that finally did in March, following some rough weeks, I was finally able to see a new doctor about the pain. He didn't have any real answers and ended up referring me to a GI specialist (a story for perhaps another day). However, what he did discover was that the sugar level in my urine sample was abnormally high, which made him ask if I was diabetic or if anyone in my family was. I answered that, no, no one in my family was diabetic. He said he wanted to draw some blood to have it tested for blood sugar levels. And I started to get really nervous. He asked if I was urinating frequently, and I said, not that I'm aware of. (But how often is frequently? I still don't know the answer to that one).
I got my test results back and my blood sugar levels were indeed high, which led to another blood draw, this time while fasting (basically just before eating breakfast) which was also high, which in turn led to another blood draw, this time to test my Hemoglobin A1c levels, which is basically a measure that gives an idea of what a person's average blood sugar levels have been over the last 2-3 months. Normal ranges are between 4 and 6. Mine was at 7.5. So, I guess at that point, I was officially diagnosed as diabetic.
So, there I was, an overweight 30-year old with Type II diabetes. Not something I ever expected to be. I started reading online about what in the world that meant, and what I was supposed to do about it. Lots of stuff about watching your diet (but with no real numbers of what I was supposed to eat or not eat), descriptions of things I'd need to watch, like my feet and my eyes. Larry H Miller, owner of the Jazz and famous Utahn had just recently passed away from diabetic complications that first resulted in the amputation of both his legs. Those first couple weeks were definitely a tough time. Not knowing what to do, and mostly feeling depressed, guilty, and maybe above all, for the first time, dealing with my own mortality. I definitely felt like at the time, and maybe rightfully so, that I'd been handed a death sentence. Not that I was going to die anytime soon. Just that I now had a pretty good guess of what might kill me. Definitely a weird thing to think about. Of course, I could still die in plenty of other ways, but if I live long enough, diabetic complications seem like a pretty likely "underlying cause" on my death certificate. (I'm currently working on a death certificate-related project at work, so that's probably another factor in the whole thing).
During this time, a good friend of mine asked me how I was feeling about things. (I still haven't told a lot of people about my diagnosis, in part, because I'm still not real sure how I feel about it, and how it affects me). Here's an excerpt from my email response:
I'm glad that I wrote that out at the time, because it's interesting for me to look back on that. That was 6 weeks ago, and I still hadn't officially been diagnosed. Clearly, I was coping with a lot of uncertainty and emotions.
Since then, things have improved quite a bit. After being diagnosed, I was able to have a series of appointments with diabetes educators, who helped me to know what I ought to be eating (My carbohydrate intake is the main thing I have to watch, and I now have some solid numbers to stay within), how to check my blood sugar (Yes, I do poke myself in the finger twice a day to check my blood sugar levels, and yes, at first I would get really nervous about doing it, which I found only made me have to make multiple attempts. I feel like a pro now by comparison), I don't have to give myself insulin injections thankfully, although in my training courses they made it clear that some day I probably will (on average its 7-10 years after diagnosis), but that is part of the normal progression of the disease and not something that indicates that I screwed up or anything. Generally before people go on insulin they start taking medications that also help with the bodily processes related to diabetes. For now, I'm lucky enough to be managing my diabetes with diet changes, and with starting to exercise regularly. My doctor said that some people make those changes and are able to go 30 years without needing medication for their diabetes. My classes since then made me a little skeptical about those numbers, but definitely for now that seems to be working pretty well. He also said that some people aren't willing to make the changes and have to go on medication and eventually insulin. I feel lucky to have had the will power to make the changes for now.
The diet changes haven't been too bad. 45-60 carbs per meal is actually not that bad, I just have to avoid pigging out, or having too many starchy items, and being pretty careful with dessert. Hamburger = just fine. French fries = not so much. Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pie = yeah...maybe I'll never have another of those. (tear) Anyway, most of the effort on that front comes when I'm grocery shopping and reading food labels on everything, and I suspect that as I have more experience with this, I'll develop a good stable of choices that I enjoy and that are within my bounds. The website sparkpeople.com was very helpful in tracking what I was eating and for checking nutrition information.
On the exercise front, there's an exercise room right across the hall from my office at LDS Hospital, and for only $10 a month I can use it all I want. It has lockers and a shower and lots of towels and a fair amount of equipment and it's usually not too busy. I've been trying to get in 30 minutes of cardio after work most days and then follow that up with a little bit of weight lifting.
Between the exercise and diet changes, I've already lost at least 10 pounds, maybe more in the last 6 weeks, and lately people have been asking if I've lost weight and saying that I look good, so that's been a nice outcome.
Even with these changes, I really don't feel like much of a different person. I certainly don't feel like food defined me, and in days of yore, I was no stranger to physical activity, so none of those things make me feel like I've lost my identity. I just feel like I'm finally making some healthier choices that I've been wanting to make for a long time. Hopefully I can take advantage of the inherent motivation of this new condition to develop some long lasting good habits.
Kind of the last frontier for me has been knowing how to let people know about my diabetes. Definitely a part of me still feels guilty about it, and as a result I'm embarrassed to admit it to other people. Like it's at least partly my fault that by not taking care of my health for so long that I've developed diabetes. I've had two of my nurse educators specifically say that it's not my fault. Part of me still think that they're just saying that to be nice. On the other hand, there are plenty of people my age who are as overweight as I was who don't have diabetes, so it might not be ALL my fault. :) The health professionals I've met with seem to be genuinely surprised that to my knowledge, no one in my family is diabetic. At the education classes I just finished pretty much everyone else there was 50+. Not the best support group.
Not being comfortable telling people I'm diabetic occasionally leads to some awkward moments. Usually when someone is offering me treats and I don't want to have one, and don't want to explain why not. Or when I have to excuse myself to go check my blood sugar, or can't eat something until 2 hours after dinner because I'm waiting to check my blood sugar. Anyway, between being embarrassed about my diabetes, and still not being 100% sure how I feel about it and how it affects my definition of who I am, it still hasn't been the most comfortable thing for me to discuss with most people. For those of you who read my blog and didn't know already, don't take it personally. I do feel lucky to have good friends and family members to talk to about things who've been very supportive.
This has certainly been a big year of changes for me already. I started my first "real" job in January, finally finished up everything for my PhD this semester (which reminds me I need to update the header on this blog, given that I'm no longer a student), moved to a new place after 2 years at my last one, and bought my first new car.
Along with all those great and exciting changes, I also had a big change that was kind of a bummer. I've been having some mysterious discomfort in my left side, about where the rib cage ends, and had a CT scan in January that didn't find anything noteworthy. Given that I was starting a new job and would be changing insurances with that change, I decided to wait to seek further answers until my new insurance kicked in. When that finally did in March, following some rough weeks, I was finally able to see a new doctor about the pain. He didn't have any real answers and ended up referring me to a GI specialist (a story for perhaps another day). However, what he did discover was that the sugar level in my urine sample was abnormally high, which made him ask if I was diabetic or if anyone in my family was. I answered that, no, no one in my family was diabetic. He said he wanted to draw some blood to have it tested for blood sugar levels. And I started to get really nervous. He asked if I was urinating frequently, and I said, not that I'm aware of. (But how often is frequently? I still don't know the answer to that one).
I got my test results back and my blood sugar levels were indeed high, which led to another blood draw, this time while fasting (basically just before eating breakfast) which was also high, which in turn led to another blood draw, this time to test my Hemoglobin A1c levels, which is basically a measure that gives an idea of what a person's average blood sugar levels have been over the last 2-3 months. Normal ranges are between 4 and 6. Mine was at 7.5. So, I guess at that point, I was officially diagnosed as diabetic.
So, there I was, an overweight 30-year old with Type II diabetes. Not something I ever expected to be. I started reading online about what in the world that meant, and what I was supposed to do about it. Lots of stuff about watching your diet (but with no real numbers of what I was supposed to eat or not eat), descriptions of things I'd need to watch, like my feet and my eyes. Larry H Miller, owner of the Jazz and famous Utahn had just recently passed away from diabetic complications that first resulted in the amputation of both his legs. Those first couple weeks were definitely a tough time. Not knowing what to do, and mostly feeling depressed, guilty, and maybe above all, for the first time, dealing with my own mortality. I definitely felt like at the time, and maybe rightfully so, that I'd been handed a death sentence. Not that I was going to die anytime soon. Just that I now had a pretty good guess of what might kill me. Definitely a weird thing to think about. Of course, I could still die in plenty of other ways, but if I live long enough, diabetic complications seem like a pretty likely "underlying cause" on my death certificate. (I'm currently working on a death certificate-related project at work, so that's probably another factor in the whole thing).
During this time, a good friend of mine asked me how I was feeling about things. (I still haven't told a lot of people about my diagnosis, in part, because I'm still not real sure how I feel about it, and how it affects me). Here's an excerpt from my email response:
And yes, of course the possibility of having diabetes bums me out. It
makes me feel guilty about not be more conscientious about my health
up til now. It makes me imagine which complication of diabetes will
end up killing me. It makes me wonder if I'll be eating crappy foods
the rest of my life to postpone those complications. It makes me
wonder if I'll have to be giving myself shots all the time, and poking
my fingers to check my blood sugar levels. So yeah, kind of a bummer
when I think about it. I guess I'm wondering if it will be such a big
deal that it'll be one of my defining characteristics. I hope that its
not something that takes over my life, but I suspect that once I get
used to managing it, that it won't be such a big deal. I just don't
know enough at this point to say how it will affect things. That's
part of why I'd like to get some follow-up. Now, any time I'm not
feeling 100% well, I start wondering if it's something diabetes
related, and if so, what I ought to do about it.
I'm glad that I wrote that out at the time, because it's interesting for me to look back on that. That was 6 weeks ago, and I still hadn't officially been diagnosed. Clearly, I was coping with a lot of uncertainty and emotions.
Since then, things have improved quite a bit. After being diagnosed, I was able to have a series of appointments with diabetes educators, who helped me to know what I ought to be eating (My carbohydrate intake is the main thing I have to watch, and I now have some solid numbers to stay within), how to check my blood sugar (Yes, I do poke myself in the finger twice a day to check my blood sugar levels, and yes, at first I would get really nervous about doing it, which I found only made me have to make multiple attempts. I feel like a pro now by comparison), I don't have to give myself insulin injections thankfully, although in my training courses they made it clear that some day I probably will (on average its 7-10 years after diagnosis), but that is part of the normal progression of the disease and not something that indicates that I screwed up or anything. Generally before people go on insulin they start taking medications that also help with the bodily processes related to diabetes. For now, I'm lucky enough to be managing my diabetes with diet changes, and with starting to exercise regularly. My doctor said that some people make those changes and are able to go 30 years without needing medication for their diabetes. My classes since then made me a little skeptical about those numbers, but definitely for now that seems to be working pretty well. He also said that some people aren't willing to make the changes and have to go on medication and eventually insulin. I feel lucky to have had the will power to make the changes for now.
The diet changes haven't been too bad. 45-60 carbs per meal is actually not that bad, I just have to avoid pigging out, or having too many starchy items, and being pretty careful with dessert. Hamburger = just fine. French fries = not so much. Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pie = yeah...maybe I'll never have another of those. (tear) Anyway, most of the effort on that front comes when I'm grocery shopping and reading food labels on everything, and I suspect that as I have more experience with this, I'll develop a good stable of choices that I enjoy and that are within my bounds. The website sparkpeople.com was very helpful in tracking what I was eating and for checking nutrition information.
On the exercise front, there's an exercise room right across the hall from my office at LDS Hospital, and for only $10 a month I can use it all I want. It has lockers and a shower and lots of towels and a fair amount of equipment and it's usually not too busy. I've been trying to get in 30 minutes of cardio after work most days and then follow that up with a little bit of weight lifting.
Between the exercise and diet changes, I've already lost at least 10 pounds, maybe more in the last 6 weeks, and lately people have been asking if I've lost weight and saying that I look good, so that's been a nice outcome.
Even with these changes, I really don't feel like much of a different person. I certainly don't feel like food defined me, and in days of yore, I was no stranger to physical activity, so none of those things make me feel like I've lost my identity. I just feel like I'm finally making some healthier choices that I've been wanting to make for a long time. Hopefully I can take advantage of the inherent motivation of this new condition to develop some long lasting good habits.
Kind of the last frontier for me has been knowing how to let people know about my diabetes. Definitely a part of me still feels guilty about it, and as a result I'm embarrassed to admit it to other people. Like it's at least partly my fault that by not taking care of my health for so long that I've developed diabetes. I've had two of my nurse educators specifically say that it's not my fault. Part of me still think that they're just saying that to be nice. On the other hand, there are plenty of people my age who are as overweight as I was who don't have diabetes, so it might not be ALL my fault. :) The health professionals I've met with seem to be genuinely surprised that to my knowledge, no one in my family is diabetic. At the education classes I just finished pretty much everyone else there was 50+. Not the best support group.
Not being comfortable telling people I'm diabetic occasionally leads to some awkward moments. Usually when someone is offering me treats and I don't want to have one, and don't want to explain why not. Or when I have to excuse myself to go check my blood sugar, or can't eat something until 2 hours after dinner because I'm waiting to check my blood sugar. Anyway, between being embarrassed about my diabetes, and still not being 100% sure how I feel about it and how it affects my definition of who I am, it still hasn't been the most comfortable thing for me to discuss with most people. For those of you who read my blog and didn't know already, don't take it personally. I do feel lucky to have good friends and family members to talk to about things who've been very supportive.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Time to Reflect
For my ward's FHE activity last night, we went to the Church History Museum downtown in Salt Lake, which seems like it could use some new exhibits, I didn't really see anything new since I was there at least a year or two ago. But in wandering through the exhibits on each of the presidents of the church, they had this Time magazine cover featuring then-Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson:
It's hard to see in this image, but the date was April 1953, 56 years ago. The quote below the cover image is "No real American wants to be subsidized." I don't know if that reflects the public sentiment at the time, or just President Benson encouraging people to take responsibility for their actions. Either way, it seemed like an especially poignant thought in today's world where it seems like many Americans are asking "Where's my bailout?"
It's hard to see in this image, but the date was April 1953, 56 years ago. The quote below the cover image is "No real American wants to be subsidized." I don't know if that reflects the public sentiment at the time, or just President Benson encouraging people to take responsibility for their actions. Either way, it seemed like an especially poignant thought in today's world where it seems like many Americans are asking "Where's my bailout?"
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Grand Kerfuffle '09
Last night, a couple of friends and I braved threats of storminess and cold to go check out Girl Talk and Lupe Fiasco outside of the Student Union up at the U. First of all, so grateful that the weather held and after raining/snowing all day it finally stopped for the duration of the time we were out there. Yes, it was a little chilly, but thankfully I wasn't drenched by the end of the night.
Eric and BJ during Girl Talk's set.
Now some of you are probably asking, "Who is/are Girl Talk and Lupe Fiasco?" Well, Girl Talk opened the show, and what he does is mash up other people's music on his laptop and dance around. I know it sounds kinda weird, and I guess it kinda is, but it's fun and we had a great time groovin'. When he first came out, we were like, "Is that him?" He was shorter than I imagined, and it's just him up there with his laptop on a table. Most of his shows you'll see him surrounded in a mass of people while he does his thing. Last night, there were only a select few allowed up on stage who apparently had some kind of backstage passes. Anyway, he played for around 40 minutes and then bid us farewell. Probably my favorite part was the mashup of "Whoomp There It Is" and "In a Big Country" which also appears on the Feed the Animals album.
Update: Here's a video of the Whoomp/In a Big Country Mash-up
Me and Eric in between shows.
Lupe Fiasco is a more traditional hip-hop artist, who has been featured on a Kanye West song or two, and has had a few hit singles himself. He brought a DJ and also had someone playing live drums, which was cool. It was sometimes hard to pick up which song he was singing, because he often did them over different beats than what they're over on the albums. He also often only sang a verse or two rather than the whole song. Probably my favorite parts of his set were when he did the first verse of "Little Weapon", "Go-Go Gadget Flow", and when he closed the show with "Daydream". I took several videos with my camera and if I can get them online I'll try to post a couple here. The audio quality is only so-so, due to the thumping bass that seemed to overwhelm my little camera mic.
Eric and BJ during Girl Talk's set.
Now some of you are probably asking, "Who is/are Girl Talk and Lupe Fiasco?" Well, Girl Talk opened the show, and what he does is mash up other people's music on his laptop and dance around. I know it sounds kinda weird, and I guess it kinda is, but it's fun and we had a great time groovin'. When he first came out, we were like, "Is that him?" He was shorter than I imagined, and it's just him up there with his laptop on a table. Most of his shows you'll see him surrounded in a mass of people while he does his thing. Last night, there were only a select few allowed up on stage who apparently had some kind of backstage passes. Anyway, he played for around 40 minutes and then bid us farewell. Probably my favorite part was the mashup of "Whoomp There It Is" and "In a Big Country" which also appears on the Feed the Animals album.
Update: Here's a video of the Whoomp/In a Big Country Mash-up
Me and Eric in between shows.
Lupe Fiasco is a more traditional hip-hop artist, who has been featured on a Kanye West song or two, and has had a few hit singles himself. He brought a DJ and also had someone playing live drums, which was cool. It was sometimes hard to pick up which song he was singing, because he often did them over different beats than what they're over on the albums. He also often only sang a verse or two rather than the whole song. Probably my favorite parts of his set were when he did the first verse of "Little Weapon", "Go-Go Gadget Flow", and when he closed the show with "Daydream". I took several videos with my camera and if I can get them online I'll try to post a couple here. The audio quality is only so-so, due to the thumping bass that seemed to overwhelm my little camera mic.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Watch This Wednesday #49: Russian Break-Dancing
I know it's not Wednesday, and I also know I haven't blogged much lately. Lots of good things going on, and a few not so good. Trying to focus on the good for now. Anyway, for some reason I've been wanting to watch this video that I saw a while back and thought I'd share. This is cold-war era footage of Russian dancers throwing down some sick dance moves. ABDC would be lucky to have guys of this caliber on.
P.S. Despite a cold and stormy forecast, I'm still looking forward to tomorrow night's Lupe Fiasco & Girl Talk concert at the U. Anyone else going?
P.S. Despite a cold and stormy forecast, I'm still looking forward to tomorrow night's Lupe Fiasco & Girl Talk concert at the U. Anyone else going?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Bullets (sans Butterfly Wings)
Just a few notes on my week:
Had another doctor's appointment on Wednesday to confirm what tests had shown. Resulted in getting referrals for two more appointments with specialists.
Sat down with a car salesman on Tuesday and decided that, yes, in fact, they are no fun to deal with. Hopefully tomorrow morning goes better. If not, I may still buy something anyway. Got pre-approved today for a loan.
Settling in at the new place continues. We got Internet/cable turned on this week and it was nice to watch parts of two Jazz games this week, as well as having Internet. Caught last week's Lost. Still one week behind.
Investigated noisy desktop. Looks like I've got a bad fan motor on my power supply. Might call for some hardware-style nerdiness. Not really my forte, but doesn't seem like it's too crazy of a thing to replace.
Had a planning meeting with some friends to plan a vacation. Looking at possible Caribbean cruise in August. Still waiting to hear on family vacation. Hopefully PTO doesn't become an issue.
Still dealing with clean-up/clean-out issues at the former apartment. Because I'm the one that management trusts they want me to do a walk-through with them on Tuesday next week (the 31st). Just found out that one of my roommates can't move until then. Also, he's the one with two cars, two motorcycles and a snowmobile. Somehow I'm guessing that might not all be out by Tuesday afternoon. Let's hope so.
Can't remember if I mentioned this here or not already, but I DID get final approval on my dissertation from my supervisory committee, so now I'm down to just getting approval from the Thesis Editor's office. Unfortunately, I also need signatures from two people who happened to be out of the country until next week. Hopefully by middle of next week I can get that all printed and dropped off for initial review.
Had another doctor's appointment on Wednesday to confirm what tests had shown. Resulted in getting referrals for two more appointments with specialists.
Sat down with a car salesman on Tuesday and decided that, yes, in fact, they are no fun to deal with. Hopefully tomorrow morning goes better. If not, I may still buy something anyway. Got pre-approved today for a loan.
Settling in at the new place continues. We got Internet/cable turned on this week and it was nice to watch parts of two Jazz games this week, as well as having Internet. Caught last week's Lost. Still one week behind.
Investigated noisy desktop. Looks like I've got a bad fan motor on my power supply. Might call for some hardware-style nerdiness. Not really my forte, but doesn't seem like it's too crazy of a thing to replace.
Had a planning meeting with some friends to plan a vacation. Looking at possible Caribbean cruise in August. Still waiting to hear on family vacation. Hopefully PTO doesn't become an issue.
Still dealing with clean-up/clean-out issues at the former apartment. Because I'm the one that management trusts they want me to do a walk-through with them on Tuesday next week (the 31st). Just found out that one of my roommates can't move until then. Also, he's the one with two cars, two motorcycles and a snowmobile. Somehow I'm guessing that might not all be out by Tuesday afternoon. Let's hope so.
Can't remember if I mentioned this here or not already, but I DID get final approval on my dissertation from my supervisory committee, so now I'm down to just getting approval from the Thesis Editor's office. Unfortunately, I also need signatures from two people who happened to be out of the country until next week. Hopefully by middle of next week I can get that all printed and dropped off for initial review.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Why drag it to the curb...
when you can have people come pick it up at your house?
At the apartment I just moved out of we've got some furniture left behind that no one wants to take with them. So I stopped by last night, took some photos and then posted them to craigslist under the "free" category. For the futon that none of us wants, I literally had at least 15 emails in the first hour. And other people were also willing to take away my old desk and a loveseat that no one wanted. Now the people I promised them to better show up and bring some muscle. I'm not giving stuff away for free just to have to move it myself.
At the apartment I just moved out of we've got some furniture left behind that no one wants to take with them. So I stopped by last night, took some photos and then posted them to craigslist under the "free" category. For the futon that none of us wants, I literally had at least 15 emails in the first hour. And other people were also willing to take away my old desk and a loveseat that no one wanted. Now the people I promised them to better show up and bring some muscle. I'm not giving stuff away for free just to have to move it myself.
Monday, March 23, 2009
I moved (and other assorted ramblings)
For those of you who only follow my life via my blog (does that statement categorize anyone?), you should know that I moved last week to a pretty sweet abode that affords me a spot in a garage and a spacious living room with a brand new sectional. And no, I didn't buy this home, but I'm only paying a smidge more than what I was paying at my old place, so hopefully I can start saving up for buying important grown up things like a new car, a place of my own, and possibly more medical care (a topic for another day).
However, due to my move, I do not currently have internet access at home, so I'm posting this from work (after my work hours for the day, mind you).
More from the good and exciting news front, last week my supervisory committee gave me the thumbs up on my last draft of my final chapter and I now have the green light to go to the Thesis Editor and receive a thorough pen-lashing about tabs and spacing and page numbers and who knows what else. Hopefully nothing too drastic. So, probably by the time I'm walking this Spring, I will actually have finished doing whatever needs doing to be really graduated.
Good times.
However, due to my move, I do not currently have internet access at home, so I'm posting this from work (after my work hours for the day, mind you).
More from the good and exciting news front, last week my supervisory committee gave me the thumbs up on my last draft of my final chapter and I now have the green light to go to the Thesis Editor and receive a thorough pen-lashing about tabs and spacing and page numbers and who knows what else. Hopefully nothing too drastic. So, probably by the time I'm walking this Spring, I will actually have finished doing whatever needs doing to be really graduated.
Good times.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Where snow shacks go to die
I know I haven't been blogging much lately. I've had a lot on my mind, but not much that I feel like blogging about, between boxing up stuff to get ready for my move next week, and a variety of medical tests (had blood drawn 3 times this week). Anyway, in the midst of packing and running packing-related errands today I swung by this place I saw last night to take some photos of some Rainbow Snow snowcone shacks in storage/retirement. Maybe they pull them out again come summer.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Admiring the View
One of the things I might miss when I move is the view from my window, that looks out over a little valley with an expressway running through it, and the tree (someone once said it was a flowering pear, but I'm not expert) right outside as well. I woke up this morning to find that it had snowed considerably overnight and it made my tree look like it was a cotton plant.
I've taken a variety of photos of "my tree", as I call it, in the 2 years I've lived here and today I made this mosaic of them, using the mosaic tool on fd's flickr tools page.
I've taken a variety of photos of "my tree", as I call it, in the 2 years I've lived here and today I made this mosaic of them, using the mosaic tool on fd's flickr tools page.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Just an Update
My twice-a-year blogger brother recently chastised me for not blogging enough lately, so here's a quick update on my life:
- Working full-time, but things are kind of slow right now for me, as I wait for other, busier people to have time to decide how they want me to do the work they've assigned me.
- Due to persistent abdominal/side/back discomfort/pressure/pain, I'm having trouble sleeping most nights (though not last night, thankfully). I have an imaginary chain of paper loops in my mind, counting down the days until my doctor's appointment under my new job-subsidized health insurance coverage (six!)
- I'm thinking hard about buying a new car, but first I need to register my current car under my name, as my parents recently "sold" it to me (for $10) so that I could trade it in or sell it. Not sure if the time/money to have it re-inspected, registered, get new plates, etc. will pan out to be profitable in the end or not, but let's hope so. :)
- Going to be moving in a couple weeks. Excited about a change of scenery. Not excited about packing and moving, but it should be a good time to dump some stuff that hasn't been unpacked in the two years since I last moved.
- Sent a draft of my last dissertation chapter to my committee chair last Thursday. Haven't heard anything back yet. Hopefully I'm getting close to finishing that up. I'm meeting with him today for work-related reasons, so maybe I can ask about it there.
- Enjoying the slightly warmer weather we've been having, and looking forward to spring.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Old Book, Old Book #13: Graceling & A Long Way Down
So, last I wrote about what I was reading, I was starting "The Miracle of Forgiveness". That was like 3 months ago. And, I guess what happened was I got partway through that book, and then started another book for a book club I joined, and then the copy of Miracle of Forgiveness that I'd gotten at the library happened to have some printing problems (there were large sections where every other time you turned a page, the next two pages were blank). Anyway, I took Miracle of Forgiveness back to the library without finishing it, and in the meantime I read two other books for this book club.
The first one, Graceling, was a first-time effort in fantasy realm that had some potential starting out, but then mostly turned into a romance/feminist novel that stopped caring about the plot that I was caring about and started caring about whether the heroine could be happy in a committed relationship or not. Not my favorite.
The second one, A Long Way Down, was a novel by Nick Hornby (author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, both of which I enjoyed), about 4 strangers who meet on New Years Eve on top of a building they plan to jump to their death from. They end up not jumping and spending the next 90 days deciding if that was a good choice or not. In at least one case the book is clear, in the other 3, I'm not 100% sure what happened. It was my least favorite Hornby that I've read so far.
Seems like this book club thing isn't working out too well for me. Also, it's keeping me from reading some books that I'd like to read, so not sure whether I'll stick with it going forward or not.
I just finished "A Long Way Down" today, and I happened to be at my local library to do some writing (still trying to finish up the last bits of my dissertation) and took a few minutes to look for my next book. No luck finding something I was really interested in -- this library is pretty small, so I mostly use it as a pick-up spot for county-wide requests -- so I picked up another Cormac McCarthy, "Blood Meridian", but when I got home I went online and put in a few requests for stuff I'd really prefer to be reading ("Atlas Shrugged" and "Fight Club"). So I might hold off on starting something new for a week or so to see if one of those comes in. Oh, and tonight during dinner I ended up reading maybe a third of "The Christmas Box" which our stake presidency bought for each member of the stake as a Christmas gift. So I guess that counts as a book, right? Maybe it will tide me over for a few more meals. :)
The first one, Graceling, was a first-time effort in fantasy realm that had some potential starting out, but then mostly turned into a romance/feminist novel that stopped caring about the plot that I was caring about and started caring about whether the heroine could be happy in a committed relationship or not. Not my favorite.
The second one, A Long Way Down, was a novel by Nick Hornby (author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, both of which I enjoyed), about 4 strangers who meet on New Years Eve on top of a building they plan to jump to their death from. They end up not jumping and spending the next 90 days deciding if that was a good choice or not. In at least one case the book is clear, in the other 3, I'm not 100% sure what happened. It was my least favorite Hornby that I've read so far.
Seems like this book club thing isn't working out too well for me. Also, it's keeping me from reading some books that I'd like to read, so not sure whether I'll stick with it going forward or not.
I just finished "A Long Way Down" today, and I happened to be at my local library to do some writing (still trying to finish up the last bits of my dissertation) and took a few minutes to look for my next book. No luck finding something I was really interested in -- this library is pretty small, so I mostly use it as a pick-up spot for county-wide requests -- so I picked up another Cormac McCarthy, "Blood Meridian", but when I got home I went online and put in a few requests for stuff I'd really prefer to be reading ("Atlas Shrugged" and "Fight Club"). So I might hold off on starting something new for a week or so to see if one of those comes in. Oh, and tonight during dinner I ended up reading maybe a third of "The Christmas Box" which our stake presidency bought for each member of the stake as a Christmas gift. So I guess that counts as a book, right? Maybe it will tide me over for a few more meals. :)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Part of what's wrong with Healthcare
I'm sure that everyone out there has their own opinions on health care and what's wrong or right with it and what does or doesn't need fixing. Now that I finally have a job with benefits (starting next month -- the benefits, not the job), and am no longer obligated to seek all of my medical care through the student health clinic, I decided I ought to find a new Primary Care Provider to meet with and talk about my persistent, nagging, discomfort in my side. Given that I work for the largest healthcare provider in the state, I have a wide variety of doctors I could choose from. How to decide?
Someone I know suggested contacting the insurance company's "advocates" as they could help me find a doctor near me who was taking new patients, etc. I called them today and told them I was a new patient and needed some help choosing a doctor. I asked them if they had any quality measures or feedback from other patients that might help me in making my choice. The first answer was "no". The second answer was "yes, but we don't share that." The third answer was "Don't worry, though, because if anyone complains we really do care and try to resolve their complaint."
So basically, they told me that while they DO, in fact, have information about which doctors are better than others, they can't use that information to help me, their customer. But don't worry, because if you do choose poorly and have a problem (remember these are health problems we're talking about, not car problems), they really will do all they can to resolve my complaints. Unless, of course, my complaint is that they won't tell me who the best doctors are.
I looked around on the internet and found one site with doctor reviews (ratemds.com), and the doctor they ended up recommending to me, based on location and the fact that he was taking new patients, had only one review, which was very positive. Another site someone mentioned to me is Angie's List (ala Craig's List), but unlike Craig's list, it is not free for consumers. Not tons of help, but better than nothing, I guess.
I just can't see how it isn't in the insurance provider's interest to funnel more patients to the doctors that do the best job, whether in terms of patient results or satisfaction, or in terms of cost effectiveness. It seems like somebody ought to be benefitting here, right? If not, where's the motivation for the doctor to do a better job? Just in the goodness of her heart? Not to say doctors don't want the best for their patients, but if there's no reward for being better, why try to be anything but average?
Someone I know suggested contacting the insurance company's "advocates" as they could help me find a doctor near me who was taking new patients, etc. I called them today and told them I was a new patient and needed some help choosing a doctor. I asked them if they had any quality measures or feedback from other patients that might help me in making my choice. The first answer was "no". The second answer was "yes, but we don't share that." The third answer was "Don't worry, though, because if anyone complains we really do care and try to resolve their complaint."
So basically, they told me that while they DO, in fact, have information about which doctors are better than others, they can't use that information to help me, their customer. But don't worry, because if you do choose poorly and have a problem (remember these are health problems we're talking about, not car problems), they really will do all they can to resolve my complaints. Unless, of course, my complaint is that they won't tell me who the best doctors are.
I looked around on the internet and found one site with doctor reviews (ratemds.com), and the doctor they ended up recommending to me, based on location and the fact that he was taking new patients, had only one review, which was very positive. Another site someone mentioned to me is Angie's List (ala Craig's List), but unlike Craig's list, it is not free for consumers. Not tons of help, but better than nothing, I guess.
I just can't see how it isn't in the insurance provider's interest to funnel more patients to the doctors that do the best job, whether in terms of patient results or satisfaction, or in terms of cost effectiveness. It seems like somebody ought to be benefitting here, right? If not, where's the motivation for the doctor to do a better job? Just in the goodness of her heart? Not to say doctors don't want the best for their patients, but if there's no reward for being better, why try to be anything but average?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Some Things Never Change
One of my favorite Computer Science professors would bring his laptop to class and actually write code during lectures, which I found to be immensely helpful just to see how the process worked down to that level of detail. (If you aren't a programmer, don't quit reading yet, I promise this isn't just about CS stuff.) One time after compiling some code successfully (basically, the syntax of his code was all correct and he was able to turn it into an actual program that could be run) he said, "No matter how long I've been a programmer, it still always feels good to see your code compile with 0 errors". So true.
Anyway, I bring up that story because I got a date last night for our upcoming stake dance this Friday. And no matter how long I've been single, getting a date still feels pretty awkward. And it still feels good when a girl says yes.
And yes, I've written about this before, so there's another testament that some things really never change. :)
Anyway, I bring up that story because I got a date last night for our upcoming stake dance this Friday. And no matter how long I've been single, getting a date still feels pretty awkward. And it still feels good when a girl says yes.
And yes, I've written about this before, so there's another testament that some things really never change. :)
Monday, February 09, 2009
FSS: Two Dinners & a Movie Edition
This past weekend, I went out to eat both Friday and Saturday night with friends. Friday night I convinced a couple friends to go to Sizzler with me because I've just had a hankerin' for some steak and malibu and some cheese toast.
After dinner a larger group of friends went to see the movie Taken starring Liam Neeson. It may be the only movie I can remember seeing with absolutely no sub-plots. And it would have been a tiny bit more believeable if so many people hadn't shot at him with submachine guns at close range without killing him. My only other complaint is that the main girl who was in it also played Shannon on Lost, and I really couldn't stand her as Shannon, which made me still not like her here. I'll probably never be able to get past her as annoying Shannon. Seriously, what was Sayid thinking? I'm just glad that she didn't make it past the beginnings of Season 2. And even though we're now seeing all sorts of dead people, we've managed to avoid a return of Shannon.
And in case you were wondering, Saturday night I ate at Pei Wei.
After dinner a larger group of friends went to see the movie Taken starring Liam Neeson. It may be the only movie I can remember seeing with absolutely no sub-plots. And it would have been a tiny bit more believeable if so many people hadn't shot at him with submachine guns at close range without killing him. My only other complaint is that the main girl who was in it also played Shannon on Lost, and I really couldn't stand her as Shannon, which made me still not like her here. I'll probably never be able to get past her as annoying Shannon. Seriously, what was Sayid thinking? I'm just glad that she didn't make it past the beginnings of Season 2. And even though we're now seeing all sorts of dead people, we've managed to avoid a return of Shannon.
And in case you were wondering, Saturday night I ate at Pei Wei.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thoughts during my commute this morning
How is it that on perhaps the best non-freeway thoroughfare in the valley (700 East), there are three separate school zones? 3 times during my commute all the cars have to slow down from 45+ to 20-. Can't they make 7th East the boundary or something so that kids don't have to cross it to get to school?
Also, this morning while driving in one of these school zones, an ambulance showed up going the opposite direction. My question is: Does the ambulance have to slow down in the school zone? Which takes precendence?
Also, this morning while driving in one of these school zones, an ambulance showed up going the opposite direction. My question is: Does the ambulance have to slow down in the school zone? Which takes precendence?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Musical Favorites from 2008
I realize it's nearly February, but I just barely took time to mull over my favorite music from 2008. By the way, here are some links to previous years' lists:
2007, Part 1: Albums
2007, Part 2: Hip-Hop
2007, Part 3: Rock
2007, Part 4: Miscellaneous
2006
2005
Turns out that 12 months is a long time. Thankfully I was able to see through iTunes what music I added to my library last year, and last.fm was able to show me what I listened to the most last year. Looking over those lists I was able to come up with 4 albums I listened to a lot last year, and 22 songs to share.
It turns out that I didn't listen to as much music last year as perhaps in years past. Partly, I've been filling my commute time with talk-radio-ish podcasts, and partly since I gave up file sharing, I just don't get around to checking out as much new music. However, with great things like Pandora and YouTube, there is tons of free music that you can stream over the internet totally legally. You'd be hard pressed to not be able to find somewhere to listen to music for free online. Sure, you can't save it to your iPod, but you can at least check something out and decide if it's worth purchasing. For my birthday, I got a $25 iTunes gift card and I still have about $6 left, just because I like to listen to a song quite a few times before I go ahead and buy a song to keep.
Anyway, this looks to be a three-part series. Today I'm starting with the best albums and then I'll get into the best songs over the next couple posts.
My favorite albums of 2008 (in no particular order):
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings - Counting Crows
Originally scheduled for release in 2007, this album's release got pushed back to early 2008. As with most Counting Crows albums, it took me a few listens to get a feel for which songs I liked the most. It's always interesting to see how their albums resonate, or don't resonate with me. So far...I'm not loving this album, but I do like it, and probably with time I'll come to like more as I have with the rest of their albums. If I had to rank their albums (original content only, not counting live albums or repacked best ofs), I'd probably go in this order:
1-August & Everything After
2-This Desert Life
3-Hard Candy
4-Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
5-Recovering the Satellites
Not to say I don't love songs on each album and can enjoy listening to just about anything Adam Duritz is willing to sing.
Feed the Animals - Girl Talk (Warning: Explicit Lyrics)
If you don't know who Girl Talk is, it's high time you found out. Basically he's a guy who puts lots of song clips together on his computer and then plays them. At his concerts, he covers his laptop in saran wrap and people dance all around him. Here's a clip:
Anyway, Feed the Animals is his new album that came out this fall -- available at a cost of your choosing, including free. Part of the fun for me is trying to pick out all the samples he uses, you can use Wikipedia to check your answers. Lots of great samples on this album. One word of warning, all the samples are unedited, and he does seem to pick a lot of stuff with explicit lyrics, so if you get offended by that, you'll want to skip this one.
Metro Station - Metro Station
I realize that this band is probably just the latest band to come around singing emo love songs with a peppy beat, but I can't help but like so many of their songs. From "Shake It" to "Kelsey" to "I Wish We were Older". I fell in love with Shake It before I knew the name of the band, and Pandora was happy to mix most of the rest of the album in with other stuff I was listening to.
Alive - Daft Punk
Now, this album actually came out sometime in 2007, but it was something I found on my buddy's computer and decided to check it. It's a recording of a live Daft Punk show in Japan. And it's awesome. If you like Daft Punk, you should definitely check it out. I think all, or most, of the tracks are 2 or 3 of their songs mashed up together and it's a great, high-energy album. I can't really pick any tracks that stand out especially, but the vibe is great from start to finish.
2007, Part 1: Albums
2007, Part 2: Hip-Hop
2007, Part 3: Rock
2007, Part 4: Miscellaneous
2006
2005
Turns out that 12 months is a long time. Thankfully I was able to see through iTunes what music I added to my library last year, and last.fm was able to show me what I listened to the most last year. Looking over those lists I was able to come up with 4 albums I listened to a lot last year, and 22 songs to share.
It turns out that I didn't listen to as much music last year as perhaps in years past. Partly, I've been filling my commute time with talk-radio-ish podcasts, and partly since I gave up file sharing, I just don't get around to checking out as much new music. However, with great things like Pandora and YouTube, there is tons of free music that you can stream over the internet totally legally. You'd be hard pressed to not be able to find somewhere to listen to music for free online. Sure, you can't save it to your iPod, but you can at least check something out and decide if it's worth purchasing. For my birthday, I got a $25 iTunes gift card and I still have about $6 left, just because I like to listen to a song quite a few times before I go ahead and buy a song to keep.
Anyway, this looks to be a three-part series. Today I'm starting with the best albums and then I'll get into the best songs over the next couple posts.
My favorite albums of 2008 (in no particular order):
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings - Counting Crows
Originally scheduled for release in 2007, this album's release got pushed back to early 2008. As with most Counting Crows albums, it took me a few listens to get a feel for which songs I liked the most. It's always interesting to see how their albums resonate, or don't resonate with me. So far...I'm not loving this album, but I do like it, and probably with time I'll come to like more as I have with the rest of their albums. If I had to rank their albums (original content only, not counting live albums or repacked best ofs), I'd probably go in this order:
1-August & Everything After
2-This Desert Life
3-Hard Candy
4-Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
5-Recovering the Satellites
Not to say I don't love songs on each album and can enjoy listening to just about anything Adam Duritz is willing to sing.
Feed the Animals - Girl Talk (Warning: Explicit Lyrics)
If you don't know who Girl Talk is, it's high time you found out. Basically he's a guy who puts lots of song clips together on his computer and then plays them. At his concerts, he covers his laptop in saran wrap and people dance all around him. Here's a clip:
Anyway, Feed the Animals is his new album that came out this fall -- available at a cost of your choosing, including free. Part of the fun for me is trying to pick out all the samples he uses, you can use Wikipedia to check your answers. Lots of great samples on this album. One word of warning, all the samples are unedited, and he does seem to pick a lot of stuff with explicit lyrics, so if you get offended by that, you'll want to skip this one.
Metro Station - Metro Station
I realize that this band is probably just the latest band to come around singing emo love songs with a peppy beat, but I can't help but like so many of their songs. From "Shake It" to "Kelsey" to "I Wish We were Older". I fell in love with Shake It before I knew the name of the band, and Pandora was happy to mix most of the rest of the album in with other stuff I was listening to.
Alive - Daft Punk
Now, this album actually came out sometime in 2007, but it was something I found on my buddy's computer and decided to check it. It's a recording of a live Daft Punk show in Japan. And it's awesome. If you like Daft Punk, you should definitely check it out. I think all, or most, of the tracks are 2 or 3 of their songs mashed up together and it's a great, high-energy album. I can't really pick any tracks that stand out especially, but the vibe is great from start to finish.
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