The Exorcist---October 28, 2006

We watched this on American Movie Channel tonight. I knew the kids had never seen it, but I was suprised when Cheryl told me she had never seen it either. Fortunately, this was an edited version that omitted all the terrible language and the "Crucifix" scene.

Here is the house and the famous set of stairs used in the orginal movie courtesy of MSN Virtual Earth. In reality, the stairs are a bit further from the house than is depicted in the movie. It works best if you choose the Bird's Eye View that is facing south (towards the river).

http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!468

If you are interested, there is lots of information and photos you can find by doing a Google web search as well as a Google image search.

Happy Halloween!

It's All Set! Well, Almost...

Here is how my rotations will be. I got everything I asked for and I am very lucky because all but one is providing me with housing.

June 2007: John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas
July 2007: Presbyterian Hospital in Greenville, Texas
August 2007: Still up in the air...either South Bend, Indiana or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
September 2007: St. Mary's Hospital in Evansville, Indiana
October 2007: Norton Audobon Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky
November 2007: Veteran's Hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee
December 2007: VACATION and residency interviews in Chicago, Illinois
Januarly 2008: Private Practice rotation---can be anywhere
February-May 2008: Veteran's Hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee
June 2008: GRADUATION, FINALLY!

A Lost Art!

30 years later this is STILL funny to me!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8NOxoZ3rZc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUT0QqZU4dg

A little background...

http://www.heehaw.com/Cast-JimmyRiddle-JackiePhelps.htm

North Of The Border---October 19, 2006

Sorry I have been too busy to write. It seems like there is less and less time to get things done.

My clerkship applications went out Monday. I have already heard back from a couple of places. I will be in Fort Worth, Texas, in June of 2007 and Greenville, Texas, the following July. I will be in Johnson City, Tennessee, from February through May of 2008.

I scrubbed in for my first surgery today. I have seen lots of surgery, but this is the first time I got to scrub in and assist. We performed a Keller arthroplasty for a person with hallux limitus. "Hallux" is the technical name for the big toe (This little piggy went to market...). Hallux limitus is degenerative arthritis in the big toe. A person with hallux limitus cannot bend their big toe. In order to walk normally, a person must be able to bend their toe upwards at least 65 degrees. In a Keller arthroplasty, a section of bone is removed from the toe so that there is more room in the joint to allow greater range of motion. It can be used to fix a bunion, too. Here is what it looks like.

You can go here to get more info. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/encyclopedia/halluxlimitus/

Be sure to check out my friend Ang's new blog. I used to work with Ang at St. John's. http://staabhousehold.blogspot.com/

Everything else is status quo.

Talk to you all next time.

Ah, ya doesn't have to call me Johnson!

Am I the only one who remembers this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_J._Johnson

Click on "The You Can Call Me Ray bit" under "External Links"

You can call me Ray, you can call me Jay, you can call me Johnny, you can call me Sonny, or you can call me Juny. You can call me Ray Jay, you can call me RJ, you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ Junior. But you doesn't have to call me Johnson.

This was a regular bit on the Redd Foxx show performed by Bill Saluga. It was popular back in the 70's and was also used in a Natural Light beer commercial, not Miller Lite as stated in the article.

Enjoy!

Virtual Earth

Virtual Earth is back! Actually, it was never gone. I just needed to update my web brower.

Here is a new collection of some of the places I visited in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Collection
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!444

Here are the rest, just for old times sake.

Los Angeles Area
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!146

Ozark Mountain Country
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!102

Barton County, Missouri
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!356

Des Moines, Iowa
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!407

North Hollywood Shootout
http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=6C153E7875A6AFF6!242

North Of The Border---October 1, 2006

Well, apparently MSN Virtual Earth no longer exists. I have removed the links of my collections from the blog for now. Hopefully, we can return to them some day.

I just got back from Pittsburgh today. What a great trip. All my pictures are below.

When we got to Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, we went straight to the Western Pennsylvania Hospital for about 3 hours of lecture. The theme was foot and ankle trauma.

On Friday morning, we had a lab on internal fixation taught by Jordan Grossman. Dr. Grossman is a graduate of the West Penn residency and is the current residency director of the St. Vincent's Charity Hospital podiatric surgical residency in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a podiatrist and is an internationally recoginized expert in the field of foot and ankle trauma surgery. We also had a tour of the hospital. It is about the size of St. John's. The rest of the day, we met with the current residents who taught us about the residency program. I am very sure this hospital provides excellent training. They said one of the attendings can perform an Austin bunionectomy in 11 minutes! This is usally about at 30-35 minute surgery. Very impressive! Saturday night they took us to dinner at a "fancy smancy" restuarant called The Grand Concourse. It is the old railroad deport and was very ornate. The food was wonderful. I had the grilled tuna and a blackberry iced tea.

On Saturday, we had case discussions, a radiology workshop, and a suturing workshop taught by the residents. We practiced our suturing on pig's feet from the butcher shop. In the afternoon, be had a lecture on deformity correction. Saturday night, they took us to a place called "Dave and Buster's". It is sort of a sports bar with tons of pool tables and video games. We had a buffet of appetizers and finger foods. I call it a grown up Chuck E. Cheese.

Overall, I think this is a great residency. I was invited back for an upcoming lecture series in November and was strongly encouraged by the residency director to do a month long rotation there. They offered to provide housing and meals during this time. I will definately take this into consideration. They sure treated us like royalty. I had a very nice time. About 15 students from 8 different podiatry schools attended.

Here are some relevant web addresses if you are interested

https://www.asri.edu/wph/index.html
https://www.asri.edu/wph/education/wph/graduate/wph_podiatry.html

Cheryl and the kids went down to Missouri this past weekend for the annual hayride and bondfire hosted by her parents. They had a great time, too.

Oh, by the way, check out some of my more profound philosophies at the address below.
http://www.dmu.edu/profiles/index.cfm?StudentProfileID=84

Well, it's back to reality tomorrow so I am turning in for the night.

Sites Around Pittsburgh

This is Mellon Arena where the Pittsburgh Penquins play hockey. I took this picture from the parking lot of the hotel at which I stayed, Pittsburgh Marriot City Center.











This is Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football teams. The parking lot just to the right of the stadium is the former site of Three Rivers Stadium which was imploded in 2001.







This is the confluence of the Allegeny (branching to the left), the Monongahela (branching to the right), and the Ohio Rivers. In the background, you can see PNC Park where the Pittsburgh Pirates TRY to play baseball.













Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline.











This photo was taken in the section of Pittsburgh known as Oakland and is the former site of Forbes Field, the former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The brick wall in the background is a remnant of the outfield wall over which Bill Mazeroski hit the "shot heard round the world". This "shot" is a very famous homerun hit in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 1960 World Series giving the Pirates the win over the New York Yankees. A group of die hard fans meet here on the anniversity of the event and listen to the radio broadcast of the monumental sports event.




This did not turn out as well as I would have liked, but I tried to show the typical housing arrangement in Pittsburgh. The neighborhood in the distant background is known as the "South Slopes" and is located on the cities south side. I was taken by how close the houses are together as well as their modesty.









These two photos show each end of the Dusquesne Incline. This was the mode of transportation for those who lived on the south slopes to and from their usual job which was on the riverfront loading coal into barges. The area was at one time a site for extensive coal mining. The tracks are about 800 feet in length. You may notice two sets of tracks. The cars are operated by cables and it is a couter balance system. As one car descends the slope, a second car ascends the slope. It is just like the system they use at Silver Dollar City to bring you out of Marvel Cave. Each car can hold 15 or 20 passengers. When in use, the fare was 5 cents. Many could not afford the fare and were forced to use a VERY LONG set of steps that are near by. I could not get a picture of the steps, but they still exist. I saw a fair sized female deer on my trip down.



Where are all the steel mills? I was very suprised to learn that they are all gone! They were located right along the river. The area has been redeveloped for retail and looks very much like Chesterfield Village in Springfield. Some of the smoke stacks have been left as a memorial. Pittsuburgh is now a very clean city, but many of the buildings are still stained with soot and rust.

Aircraft and Aerial Photos from the Pittsburgh Trip

Northwest N8721B pulling up to Gate C2 at Des Moines International Airport. This is a Bombadier CRJ-200 that got me to Detroit.















29,000 feet above Iowa on my way to Detroit.
















Northwest N8932E at Gate A69 at Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport. This is a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9. A great plane but a very bumpy ride due to high winds on the 40 minute flight from Detroit to Pittsurgh.















U.S. Airways N532AU at the jetway of Gate B27 at Pittsburgh International Airport. It is a Boeing 737.


















The Chicago skyline over Lake Michigan. On final approach to Runway 32L at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

















United Express N740SK pulling up to Gate E2A at Chicago O'Hare International. It is a Bombadier CRJ-70. I came home in this one.