Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Most Influential Books

The following are just the books that have influenced me more so than any other. Not necessarily my favorite books, most of them are.

1.) Call of The Wild- Jack London

2.) It's Not About The Bike - Lance Armstrong

3.) Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder

4.) Complications - Atul Gwande

5.) Travels - Michael Crichton

6.) A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson

7.) The Millionare Next Door - Stanley & Danko

8.) The Earth & Man - Rand McNalley

9.) The Dragons of Eden - Carl Sagan

10.) A View Of The Mountains - Morris Gibson, MD

11.) Spontaneous Healing - Andrew Weil, MD

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Trip To Seattle-NAPCRG

What an outstanding trip to Seattle.

I flew out of Wichita on a late flight because of cost- and arrived to Seattle 1 hr before my presentation. God bless the iPhone as it allowed me to quickly pull up maps, train vs bus vs shuttle fares and schedules, contact our research director who was already at the conference, and listen to Screeching Weasel on the train ride in as a snapped a few pictures and texted them to Maryclaire to let her know I was here safe.

I checked in to the beautiful Westin and ran to my room with barely enough time to jump into my new suit and run down to the poster session. I was immediately grilled with questions regarding our research on the MedEncentive software that had been implemented by a large medical clinic in town. I was barely familiar with the latest version of our poster when the chair of our department, former president of the AAFP, and coauthor on the study came to check in on me.

We went out for some good Thai, and after getting a few postcards, went to the hotel gym to get a quick workout and hottub soak in.

I enjoyed Born to Run on my Kindle, and watched a little terrible television before passing out from sheer exhaustion.

It wasn't until the next day that I didn't feel discombobulated anymore. I think I've been fighting a low-grade virus for the past few weeks.

The morning plenary lecture by Jane Gunn from the University of Melbourne was excellent and inspiring. Equally inspiring were the number of international researchers in primary care who offered briliant insights of their own, as well as pressing questions. I walked away moved to continue with research as an important part of my career.

As there was no programming other than another poster session immediately after the lecture, I took to the streets. People make fun of me for my Mont Bell down jacket, but I love that thing. It was perfect for the wet cold drizzle of Seattle. I was very shocked that it really is that wet and grey- but it is! I wandered around town for about 3 miles then used Yelp! to find the best breakfast in town. The place with 609 5 stars was Piroshky Piroshky- a Russian pastry bakery. This led me to walk to Pike's Place- the market near the waterfront. A group of people at a Starbuck's 2 doors down let me know that that must be the first Starbuck's-and it was. A performer was busking out front and she was so amazing I figured she was somebody famous coming back to her roots, but I really think she's just someone who will be famous- some of the best guitar and singing I've ever heard. Across from the shops is the covered market of Pike's Place with organic produce, hand carved art, flower markets and more.

I met the others at the hotel and conference for lunch, and we set out to do it all again.

After, I put on my shorts and shoes and headed out for a running tour of other areas of the city. I simply ran until I saw something interesting- then would pop inside to look, talk, or eat. I went to the Seattle Art Museum, the Central Library (the highlight of my trip I think), the Space Needle, and many places in between. I loved moving quickly from place to place. It was my first significant run with the New Balance MT-101's, and I have to say I was very pleased with their performance. Soaked and cold, I arrived to the hotel in time to change and meet the others for dinner. We ate at a mall Mexican restaurant and I had the best (and first) vegan sweet potato and black bean tacos ever! Two of my companions had musculoskeletal complaints and I did some OMT before bed. Also before bed a quick hop into the hot tub with the latest issue of Outside Magazine, some TV (the new series Boardwalk Empire on MTV- wow is it good), and a few more chapters of Born to Run. It was a nice read not only because of the story, but because I was putting in 6-10 miles of walking and running in each day!

In the morning Paul Grundy spoke on the Patient Centered Medical Home. As it was my last day in Seattle, I chose to wander a bit more through the city immediately after. I hit the South Downtown area this time, eating, walking, and people watching. I also managed to get a haircut in with an hour to go! I mailed off my postcards, took the light rail back to the station, and sadly flew home with a very, very late (as usual) arrival in Wichita.

It was a wonderful trip. The conference was inspiring, the research was well received, and I loved Seattle. It is, besides Asheville, the only other city I've been able to see myself living. The outdoors, the food, the energy, and everything it had to offer (what limited amount I could see in my two days there), the strong sense of public health, primary care, and the established scope of practice (there is an OB fellowship at the Swedish Family Medicine Residencies) make it a very desirable alternative if for whatever reason I wasn't able to live in North Carolina.

Now it's back to work!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Unscheduled Stops

It's dark outside early, it's November, and the wind is howling outside my window while I sit in bed with two siamese and a Macbook Pro under wool blankets, sitting on a heating pad.

This afternoon it was just warm enough to wear a t-shirt for a run but I pulled on a long-sleeved Capilene and I'm glad I did because there were more than a few cold blasts of air every time I stopped to adjust my shoelaces or wait for a traffic light.

Today my short jog turned into a remarkable run. I wasn't looking forward to running downtown today because sometimes in Wichita the downtown can seem barren and that's depressing. Economic downturns tend to be depressing. But I ran through the cityscape toward the riverfront and had to stop in my tracks when a massive formation of birds chasing bugs caught my eye- then another grouping- then another. Not more than 100 feet off of the ground swirling between the buildings. Thousands of them, looking like magic.

I kept churning along, listening to Hot Water Music, running past the public library, past Century II and the fountains, and along to the riverfront. I stopped at the bottom of the steps of the fountains. To smell the roses figuratively, but literally to appreciate 30 Canadian geese standing on the sidewalk along the river and on the dried banks below. They looked up at me curiously- this man running along a draining river at sunset on a blustery day. 10 of them in unison forgot about me and dipped down and drank some water. The others mingled amongst themselves. I decided to walk through the group as the fastest way to get on with my run and delighted in their antics- their squat movements, their choreographed drinking and pecking, and their disinterest in me. I laughed out loud.

I continued running but stopped shortly to appreciate a statue I've passed plenty of times and never bothered to appreciate. I was stopping so much to appreciate so much today i may as well give it my attention now.

"Dedicated to the Pioneers,"

the plate read. The statue is of a mother and her son- she clutching her Bible to her chest and her son's hand, and he clinging to a crude carved boat to take to the river. It made me appreciate the history Kansas has to offer, the pioneering spirit, the past and future Family Doctors of tending to those few who lived and live in the remote regions of Kansas. Later this evening I would tell an interviewee visiting from the Pacific Northwest stories about Wyatt Earp calling out a posse only 300 meters from where I was standing looking at that statue, or Carrie A. Nation taking a hatchet to a bar near my downtown loft. There is so much history here.

I completed my run with no more interruptions. I came home refreshed, happy to move my body again and with a better appreciation of Kansas and the good fortune I have to be able to take times to pause- for a moment or for a weekend- and appreciate the nature and culture of the place I get to live and train in.