Saturday, 6 a.m.

I did it. I finished medical school yesterday. Nothing is official until May 13/14 at graduation, but my final clinical rotation and last actual day in the hospital ended around noon PST yesterday.

As with many things in life, it was somewhat anticlimatic. There was no fan fare, whistles, or high fives as I walked down that long, sterile corridor towards the parking lot. I am actually pretty okay with that. For possibly this first time in my life, the self satisfaction of accomplishing something so large is reward enough. I don't need public reinforcement of my completion. (Not to say I won't enjoy it in a couple of weeks.)

The next three weeks will be spent packing, selling a car, riding, hiking, visiting with friends, and cramming everything and everyone we have loved in Tucson into our lives before we leave. I am elated and completely terrified of the next few months, but again, I am okay with that.

There have been many things I have wanted to write lately, so hopefully I will catch up without the monkey of Surgical ICU on my back. I will also be starting another blog to chronicle my intern year as a doctor in Alaska. Sort of a Northern Exposure homage, (can I use that as my blog title?) if you will. Please keep posted, and keep up those mixed metaphors (Arthur, where are you? Such silence.).

Oh, yeah. I did get something out of four year of medical school. It is Saturday, 6 a.m...I slept in today.

The First Annual Arthur T. Lo Awful Mixed Metaphor Contest!

Hey kids, have you ever wanted to monkey with the already confusing English language? Well here's your chance! We here at Alaskaboy are announcing the first annual Arthur T. Lo Awful Mixed Metaphor Contest! Enter as often as you wish, entertain your friends, and bastardize the English language! There will be virtually no prizes! Here's the deal: Take a metaphor, any metaphor and twist it until it is almost unrecognizable and makes little or no sense. For example (as take from the comments section of Pathologically Speaking, and attributed to "Arhtur" (if that is his real name)):

"the cream will rise to the top, but the rising tide will raise all boats"

Now go! I want more responses than I have ever received before. For all of you who read, but never comment, this is your chance for creativity and semi-immortality! I have only the highest expectations.

Our next post: Excellence in Futility

Personal Content

So, I've been thinking about this speech a little. Basically, just enough to Google some ideas. Little did I know that for just pennies a day, I can have a speech written for me, or use a template that is a "proven winner!" How could I go wrong? Check out this site
If you want to skyrocket your confidence, save valuable time, and feel confident in delivering a memorable and ever-lasting graduation or valedictorian speech, then this is the most important letter you'll ever read.
Here's why...
My 'Instant Graduation Speech Package' gives you everything that you need to deliver the perfect speech for your graduation.

or this one...

A personally written speech, just for me. I could be like the President, if he was giving a Bat Mitzvah toast. Do people really use these sites? They are much like the term paper download sites of yore. Perhaps all of our lives could be scripted and written by someone else. What a perfect world that would be.

On a completely different subject, I came across Tuesdays with Mantu the other day. I haven't read this yet, but as I have professed before, I have a distinct fascination with internet scams and the multiple letters from deposed leaders wishing to share their cash with me. This guy apparently took it a step farther and actually corresponded with several of these scam artists, making up a family and other pertinent information over a several week period to keep an open dialog going. I have played along with a couple of the more clever bank and eBay scams just to see where they go, but this guy is my hero. Anyway, if I get around to reading it, I will let you know. Other books I have read recently that you should check out...A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (this is worth an entire series of posts alone) and Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (scarrrry). Your local library...check it out!

Why does my iTunes keep playing U2 and freakin' Tori Amos in the shuffle?

Break it on down.

Sorry for the break. It has been something of a hectic couple of weeks. Latest update: Moving to Alaska at the end of May. Baby still coming around the 19th of June, and residency starting June 20th. I won't drag you into the quagmire of paperwork (I had to fill out 4 job applications for priviledges at the Anchorage hospitals) or the quandry of how we will be insured for the birth of Baby Boy Church, as I am certain all will work out.

On a more interesting note, we have just come from our first Childbirth class. Wooo. To sum it up, the instructor home schooled all four of her kids (if you know my opinions on homeschooling, this speaks for itself) and we sat next to an 18 year old Doula. The Doula had attended 3 home births (all of whom were her younger sisters) and felt aglow with the wonders of childbirth. I guess it wasn't that bad, but as I told Jana, as long as we don't break into small groups and have to share with each other, I am fine. (Our first assignment today...break into small groups and share with each other.) Fortunately our small group partners (another couple and the Doula) are also refusing to tell people what they have decided to name their baby. This has been our tactic to prevent disdain for our name choices and to drive Jana's mom crazy.

Lastly, I have been chosen to give our Convocation Speech. A strange honor. I talk a lot. A lot. If you are reading this, you likely know me, and you can atest to my verbose nature (I'd say "loquacious nature" but I am not really that elequant). That being said, I have never given a talk with a prepared speech. I have made presentations, performed on stage dressed as a leprechaun, and even sang Brittany Spears songs completely sober in front of a crowd, but I have never actually had to plan what I would say. This is a new and interesting challenge for me. A chance to take the writing I have have done via this site and translate it to spoken form. Fun. Scary. Anyway, what should I say? What would you tell a group of new physicians to do with their lives? Let me know what you think.

Tomorrow (or whenever I get around to writing)... more on the Nigerian internet money scam and "How to write a graduation speech (alternative title: Guess what I'm buying on the internet this week)."