Hmmm, running?

I thought I'd take a break from posting about potty training. :-) Thanks to all for your wise and kind words. We are making great progress with #1, so I have faith that eventually we will also accomplish #2 (though Sam is still holding out, for now). Wow, after 5 years of diapers (I know that's not much) I am seeing the end in sight! I will not go back to diapers I will not go back to diapers I will not go back to diapers...

But I digress. The topic for today is running. For some inexplicable reason, as my 41st birthday approached, I began to wonder if I could run again. I used to "run" in college and for several years afterward. Really it was very slow jogging. So slow, in fact, that one day as I puffed uphill past a man pushing his little boy in a stroller, I heard the boy ask, "Daddy, why is that girl running so slow?" I had to laugh. 'Cause I just can't run any faster!!!

I've always been slow and it never bothered me. I knew I was getting a good workout and I knew I would never be a "competitive" runner, so I just ran at a comfortable pace. Sometime around 1993, I actually entered a 5K race and finished it without stopping to walk, which I was very happy with. In medical school, I tried running 5 or maybe 6 miles a few times, but I don't think I ever ran longer distances. Around age 35, my right knee started aching a bit at the end of 3 miles, and I stopped running. I've enjoyed my self-made regimen of fitness walking, aerobics with weights, core strengthening, and elliptical machine, but as spring approaches I am hearing the call of the wild.

I was in Phoenix in January on a work trip, and our hotel was near a running path, so I did 3 40-minute runs that week outdoors. It felt great! It probably wasn't wise to do that much that fast, and my legs felt it, but no knee pain. It made me want more.

So, I'm planning to start this week. I read about Jeff Galloway's "run-walk-run" training method and I'm going to try it. Bought new running shoes (Sauconys, first time ever). What I'm most excited about is my new gadget: I ordered a Garmin Forerunner 305, which will track my mileage, elevation, heart rate, and pace for me.

My first goal is to train for a 10K. I may even enter a local race, just to see what that's like. If I can train without injury or other setbacks through the summer, I may even try a half marathon in the fall. Or maybe not. I'm hoping to discover some new local routes too. If you know of any 3-10 mile runs around Salt Lake without a lot of traffic, mean dogs, or steep hills, please share!

potty training - a small success

OK, so since I whined so much about how impossible it's been to potty train our 3 and 1/2 year old boy, I want to put in a positive report here. Yesterday I decided Sam is just too comfortable with going in his pants. I'd heard of letting kids go naked and I wondered if it would make any difference to Sam. My only reservations were 1. that he would be cold, and 2. that we would have to buy all new carpet and furniture. At least his pants were containing most of the worst...anyway, I took the plunge and made him go bare-bottomed yesterday afternoon. He didn't complain of being cold, but after a couple hours I noticed him holding himself. He actually stopped watching a movie to come and ask me to put his pants on. I promised him he could wear his pants after he went potty. It took several minutes of convincing, but - Hallelujah! - he did it!

And this morning - same thing - he was bare-bottomed all morning and then - without any prompting - he went in the bathroom and did it without any prompting from me! Yee-haw! So, I have hope now. Yes! We CAN do this.

potty training, continued. It still sucks.

Today our babysitter had Sam and Alex all day, since it was Tuesday. We tried to spare her the worst of the potty training by starting on a Wednesday, and last Tuesday the kids were home sick. So today was the first day she had Sam in pants all day. We did put a diaper on over his underwear, a great trick I learned from my friend Tammy. His pants will be wet and yet he won't make a big mess...

Well...he didn't go #1 or #2 all day. Not in the potty, though she took him a few times and tried to coax him. Not in his pants either. As soon as I picked him up at 5, he peed his pants.

Sigh.

Help, help, please give me suggestions. I'm dyin here.

potty training totally sucks

OK, I guess we got lucky with Alex because she pretty much figured out potty training easily and very rarely had accidents. Now for the fun part: potty training a boy.

Sam is 3 and 1/2 and has actually peed in the potty ONCE in his life, that I know of, and that was about 6 months ago. We weren't worried, and didn't push it. But I just couldn't stand the image of him in diapers at his 4th birthday party. So we talked it up, got him all ready, bought him the big boy underwear, gave him lots of practice sessions, read potty books, watched potty videos, and finally almost 2 weeks ago we took away the diapers (except for nighttime and naps). We've promised him the moon and then some if he ever succeeds. No luck. Have found NOTHING that motivates him. Not candy, not trips to the store for prizes, not videos, nothing.

I've heard a lot of people say "Don't worry, you never see kids going to kindergarten still wearing diapers." Well, with my luck my kid will be the one.

Bleh.

Trabajadores del ladrillo en Bangladesh

Fuente: thetraveltart.com

On women and anger

Today was another day when a theme just converged. I went to a moms' group in the morning, where the discussion was about dealing with frustration and anger. One thing we talked about was the positive side of anger, the ability for our anger to give us the energy and courage to make a change that needs to happen. Then I came home and read this:

Most of my life I'd run from anger as something that good daughters and gracious ladies did not exhibit. Perhaps the thing most denied to women is anger.

...

Yet anger needs not only to be recognized and allowed; like...grief, it eventually needs to be transformed into an energy that serves compassion. Maybe one reason I had avoided my anger was that like a lot of people I had thought there were only two responses to anger: to deny it or to strike out thoughtlessly. But other responses are possible. We can allow anger's enormous energy to lead us to acts of resistance...Anger can fuel our ability to challenge, to defy injustice. It can lead to creative projects, constructive behavior, acts that work toward inclusion. In such ways anger becomes a dynamism of love. - Sue Monk Kidd, Dance of the Dissident Daughter

As I am rather defective in my ability to express anger constructively, I worry about passing this defect on to my daughter. Oh how well I remember feeling totally powerless as a child, and particularly as a girl. I recognize the emotions and behaviors in Alex, and I want to give her more than I had. Better resources, better understanding, and better insight. Praying for grace and wisdom.

What TO Wear

Ever have one of those days when a particular theme just keeps popping up?

I've had a couple days like that recently. A few weeks ago, I watched that show What Not To Wear. I have very mixed feelings about that show. I love how the two hosts just blatantly ridicule people for the way they dress. I love seeing even worse clothes in other people's closets than what is in mine. I love knowing there are lots of other people out there who dress the way I do (not very thoughtfully, most of the time). I secretly love the idea of picking up tips and advice about how to dress better, since I am unfortunately very clueless about clothes and looks. But I don't like how much the show focuses on externals, especially in a culture that already ties so much of women's (especially women's) worth to their looks. I also don't know if I could let myself spend $5000 on a new wardrobe when people are hungry and starving and suffering from preventable diseases. I always wonder if they ever invite someone to be on the show who refuses because they don't want to spend that much money on clothes. I've decided that the only way they could get me on the show is if they agreed to give $10,000 to a humanitarian cause in addition to $5000 to me. Ha!

Anyway, immediately after watching the show that morning, I encountered this in my daily lectionary reading:

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against each other, forgive each other...above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Col. 3:12-14

A bizarre fantasy played itself out in my head then, a silly dream about a TV show that dared people to clothe themselves with kindness and humility and compassion. Instead of teaching people to find the perfect dress and the perfect shoes, the hosts would follow people around with video cameras and catch them finding ways to put on gentleness and patience. I pictured the end of the show, where all the friends and family gather to see the transformed person, and they would all be cheering at how this person learned to put on love. If only we got that kind of encouragement from society...what a world this would be.

40 days til 40 (or 41)...day 9

Yeah, well, I'm way behind on blogging but it's because I've been having so much fun. :-D Yeah.

Tammy and I are doing our "40 days til 40" celebration again this year. This time she is turning 40, and I am celebrating my last 40 days of being 40. Today, day 9, we had lunch together (without kids!) at the new Corner Bakery Cafe that opened up near my work. Earlier in the week we celebrated by touring the music store and buying some fun new piano duets, playing said duets (and posting silly videos!) , and listening to some new (to us) classical music. I LOVE having a birthday twin. We really are a lot alike.

One new thing we did this year was to pick our "one word." I heard about the idea on the radio - a bunch of people decided that instead of making New Year's resolutions, they were going to carefully select the one word that they wanted to focus on for the year ahead. Tammy picked "unwind" and I chose "connected." In my mind, there is a graphic related to my word that probably only makes sense to me and a few other people, because it comes directly from medical informatics. Basically, in computable terminologies, terms are pretty meaningless ("primitive") in and of themselves - they gain meaning and are "defined" by building a network of relationships to other terms. I thought of this as an analogy for people - the more rich our relationships and associations are with others (as well as with God and our own selves), the more full and meaningful our lives are. I think I've been in the habit of taking my "connections" for granted. I want to be more intentional about strengthening them, and more willing to invest in them.

Coming up: this weekend, more 40 day activities: snowshoes, the Super Bowl, and trying out some new mixed drinks.

The Chuggy Little Snowman

Sam was too shy to say the Snowman poem during his preschool Christmas program, but he did say it for the camera. The beginning got cut off, but the first line is definitely "The Chuggy Little Snowman."
Not chubby.
Not chunky.
Chuggy.
Sam was very definite about that.

Un español entre los 7 samurais del sushi

Fuente: lainformacion.com

the earth

I awoke this morning to a special radio broadcast of discussions occurring in Copenhagen, where the climate summit is being held. It was a little discouraging. We seem to be on this downward spiral of destruction that we cannot control or contain, let alone reverse. We've been watching the BBC Planet Earth series at home lately, which has been awe-inspiring, to say the least. The beauty of this world and its life is breathtaking, and mysterious. In a sad way, the earth is even more beautiful when viewed with the knowledge that it is not going to last forever. Like all of us, it is dying.

I've been doing some daily readings during Advent from the liturgical calendar. After the Copenhagen broadcast, today's reading was:

"The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains;
The world, and all who dwell therein."
- Psalm 24:1

Hm.

It is a tiny bit comforting, I guess, to be reminded that humanity's power to damage and destroy - great as it is - is yet far, far smaller than God's power to create, sustain, redeem, and renew. It takes faith to believe this, but I have hope.

Japón: normas, normas, normas...

Siempre tengo la sensación, cuando estoy en Japón, de que estoy haciendo algo mal.

Incluso cuando voy por la calle tengo la sensación de que estoy mirando a la gente de manera poco educada. O que estoy manteniendo la mirada más de lo que es aceptable, o que no ando ni a la velocidad apropiada ni siguiendo el trayecto adecuado. Lo mismo me pasa cuando estoy en el metro sentado, o cuando hago cola para entrar. ¿Estaré en la cola que me corresponde? ¿No me habré pasado a la cola de “solo mujeres”? ¿O en alguna otra nueva que no conozca?

Y para qué hablar de cuando me muevo por el transporte público con equipaje de un lado para otro, impidiendo que entren más pasajeros debido al tamaño de mi mochila o molestando a la gente en las escaleras.

Nadie se queja ni me lanza miradas de desaprobación, pero yo lo siento en mí. Quizás esto esté solo en mi cabeza, pero no puedo evitarlo. Incluso después de haberme recorrido el país de arriba a abajo y haberlo visitado innumerable número de veces. Puede ser que me haya leído demasiados libros o artículos de los modales en Japón y yo lo esté exagerando todo, pero lo que está claro es que si el río suena es porque agua lleva, ¿no?

Está claro que siendo un occidental la cosa se suaviza. No se espera de ti que te sepas comportar como uno más. De hecho en algunas situaciones cuando demuestras que te sabes algunas de sus costumbres te conviertes en el centro de atención y te sientes un poco como el niño pequeño que sabe hacer monerías y los padres y sus amigos le dicen “¡Muy bieeeeeen!” y “ ¡Qué mono!”.

Son tantas cosas para recordar. Que si no puedo beber antes que el resto de comensales. No puedo clavar los palillos en el arroz porque es de mala educación y recuerda a un funeral, con lo que me apetece a veces. No debo, bajo ningún concepto, sonarme la nariz en público. Olvídate de ponerte a beber sin asegurarte de que el resto de invitados tengan sus vasos llenos.

Cuidado con coger la comida del plato común con el extremo de los palillos que te llevas a la boca. Descálzate al entrar en una casa, restaurante, hotel…

Nada de móviles en el transporte público. Si no estás de acuerdo con lo que dicen tus amig@s japonés@s te callas y asientes como si lo estuvieses. Di todos los “sumimaseeeeen” (lo siento) que puedas, aunque nada de lo que haya pasado sea culpa tuya. Y bla, bla, bla…

¿Será que a los que nos apasiona Japón tendremos necesidad de seguir muchas normas? ¿Seremos un poco borregos? ¿Nos gustará la sensación que se siente al salir de Japón y volver a experimentar la carencia de normas?...

skhizein - A 91 cm de mí mismo...

Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin,2008) from Bertie on Vimeo.

Do Nots

Spurred on by my observations at work, I have come up with a list of things to avoid as a doctor in a hospital setting (especially for interns and medical students):

1. Don't wear jeans under your white coat. Its unprofessional, even though it may be more comfortable and convenient.

2. Don't roll up the sleeves of your white coat. You're not a butcher.

3. Don't wear a customised operating theatre cap. You only earn that once you're the boss.

4. Don't drape a stethoscope over your shoulders as a medical student when its clear that you have no idea what to do with it.

5. For the ladies - don't put on lots of makeup and perfume. Especially medical students. I don't worry about the interns, because after a few on-calls they spontaneously eliminate that aspect of their morning routine.

6. Interns - don't spend all day long socialising over cups of coffee. Yes, your existence here is trivial and your job mostly mindless and routine, but that doesn't mean you should be flaunting the fact that you have no work to do. That will just get you into trouble.

7. Do not write short, incomprehensible patient notes. You haven't earned that right just yet. Only the boss can write something he or she only understands and not be criticised for it. Because its HIS/HER patient, not yours you little scoundrel.

8. Don't show up later than your seniors. That may sound like common sense but surprisingly still occurs, requiring a prompt kick up the arse on morning rounds.

9. Do not forget to show the proper respect to anyone who is more senior than you, be it Doctor, Nurse or even orderly. They have been around for much longer than you have, and have seen many junior doctors come and go. You're nothing special.

10. Don't give up on medicine. Even though you may take a lot of abuse, the money and hours are not that great, and the perceived public worth of the physician is ever-diminishing; it can still be a very rewarding profession. Nothing is more fulfilling than helping another human being out when they need it the most. A lot of people go out of their way to do stuff like that for free out of their own time. You get paid to do it, so count yourself lucky.

HDR desde mi habitación

Mi primera foto HDR

more quotes

I have posted these on FB so sorry if they are repeats. Mainly I am reposting them here for my own sake- so I can look back on them later.

Papa (after Alex and Sam bumped heads): "Ouch, that hurts, doesn't it? Heads are not for bumping!"
Alex: "Yeah. Heads are for singing!"

Heads are for singing. I like that. I bet a lot of my neurologist friends don't even know that. Or Bryan's psychiatrist friends, either, for that matter. In fact, if we could get more of our "head" patients singing, maybe that would help them.


Alex: "When I grow up I want to be a construction man. I would be very good at that." I can just see Alex hard at work in her little yellow hard hat. I'm pretty sure she would be the director of the crew.

Alex (completely out of the blue): "Spoiled milk controls me." Don't know what that means, but it was a truly unique thought.

En defensa de los derechos fundamentales en Internet

Ante la inclusión en el Anteproyecto de Ley de Economía sostenible de modificaciones legislativas que afectan al libre ejercicio de las libertades de expresión, información y el derecho de acceso a la cultura a través de Internet, los periodistas, bloggers, usuarios, profesionales y creadores de internet manifestamos nuestra firme oposición al proyecto, y declaramos que:

1. Los derechos de autor no pueden situarse por encima de los derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos, como el derecho a la privacidad, a la seguridad, a la presunción de inocencia, a la tutela judicial efectiva y a la libertad de expresión.

2. La suspensión de derechos fundamentales es y debe seguir siendo competencia exclusiva del poder judicial. Ni un cierre sin sentencia. Este anteproyecto, en contra de lo establecido en el artículo 20.5 de la Constitución, pone en manos de un órgano no judicial -un organismo dependiente del ministerio de Cultura-, la potestad de impedir a los ciudadanos españoles el acceso a cualquier página web.

3. La nueva legislación creará inseguridad jurídica en todo el sector tecnológico español, perjudicando uno de los pocos campos de desarrollo y futuro de nuestra economía, entorpeciendo la creación de empresas, introduciendo trabas a la libre competencia y ralentizando su proyección internacional.

4. La nueva legislación propuesta amenaza a los nuevos creadores y entorpece la creación cultural. Con Internet y los sucesivos avances tecnológicos se ha democratizado extraordinariamente la creación y emisión de contenidos de todo tipo, que ya no provienen prevalentemente de las industrias culturales tradicionales, sino de multitud de fuentes diferentes.

5. Los autores, como todos los trabajadores, tienen derecho a vivir de su trabajo con nuevas ideas creativas, modelos de negocio y actividades asociadas a sus creaciones. Intentar sostener con cambios legislativos a una industria obsoleta que no sabe adaptarse a este nuevo entorno no es ni justo ni realista. Si su modelo de negocio se basaba en el control de las copias de las obras y en Internet no es posible sin vulnerar derechos fundamentales, deberían buscar otro modelo.

6. Consideramos que las industrias culturales necesitan para sobrevivir alternativas modernas, eficaces, creíbles y asequibles y que se adecuen a los nuevos usos sociales, en lugar de limitaciones tan desproporcionadas como ineficaces para el fin que dicen perseguir.

7. Internet debe funcionar de forma libre y sin interferencias políticas auspiciadas por sectores que pretenden perpetuar obsoletos modelos de negocio e imposibilitar que el saber humano siga siendo libre.

8. Exigimos que el Gobierno garantice por ley la neutralidad de la Red, en España ante cualquier presión que pueda producirse, como marco para el desarrollo de una economía sostenible y realista de cara al futuro.

9. Proponemos una verdadera reforma del derecho de propiedad intelectual orientada a su fin: devolver a la sociedad el conocimiento, promover el dominio público y limitar los abusos de las entidades gestoras.

10. En democracia las leyes y sus modificaciones deben aprobarse tras el oportuno debate público y habiendo consultado previamente a todas las partes implicadas. No es de recibo que se realicen cambios legislativos que afectan a derechos fundamentales en una ley no orgánica y que versa sobre otra materia.

Este manifiesto, elaborado de forma conjunta por varios autores, es de todos y de ninguno. Se ha publicado en multitud de sitios web. Si estás de acuerdo y quieres sumarte a él, difúndelo por Internet.

Sushi Bar

Gracias a Dennis Wheatley y Stefan McClean