Mavis' birthday

On Saturday, October 20th, a few friends and I drove an hour upstate to Bear Mountain for a picnic and hiking trip in celebration of Mavis' 29th birthday. The weather was perfect, the sky sunny, and the leaves were just starting to change.

Here's a picture of the five of us that climbed into Mavis' little Corolla for the day: Jonathan, Gloria, Mavis, Mauricio, and Clay.


A view from close to the top. Strangely my first thought was that if this were the view from Washington Heights, about how far away would the Empire State Building be?

Looking down at the park area where we first arrived. We picnicked by the small lake in the lower left-hand side of the picture. Nearby was a German festival. The river flowing from left to right in the picture is the Hudson.

On the way down, we noticed 4 or 5 deer that seemed to let us get very close. This one was looking directly at me, but then turned her hed just as I snapped the picture. She must think she looks better in profile.

I power Blogger

So I've added a couple new elements to my blog format. You'll notice a list of labels in the right-hand margin. Starting this summer I've begun categorizing the posts, so if you're writing a biography of my life and you're writing a chapter on my exercise and reading habits, it'll be easier to find posts that pertain to those topics. Alternatively, if you're just a crazy stalker and you want to know what parts of town I can usually be found in, just click, "Around town."

As a side note, this was suprisingly easy to do. Back when I had a counter in the older days of Blogspot, I had to add it by copying html text form another website and then combing through what seemed like hundreds of pages of densely-packed html code before, by trial and error, I could find the appropriate place to paste it. The improved Blogspot is much easier. It features a schematic of the format in which I can simply click and drag to rearrange elements, and adding things is a snap.

Also, at the bottom of the page is a new logo. Rather than cliched slogans like, "Powered by Power Bar" or "Powered by Intel" or "Powered by Cold Fusion," I like the spin on this one. "I power Blogger." That's right. What would Blogspot be without people like me?

In the same vein, I smile every time I think of Stephen Colbert's new book, I Am America: And So Can You.

Two thoughts for the day

Thought 1: New Yorkers are surprisingly patient.
There are normally four large elevators that carry passengers up from the subway far below ground at the hospital's stop, though today there were only two functioning. When I came in at 0900 this morning (after being at the hospital late last night on "short call"), there were hundreds of people waiting in the narrow hallway and the underground bridge over the tracks, just waiting for an elevator. For such a fast-paced city filled with power-walkers in business suits and streets made cacophonous by blaring horns, the faces I saw in the crowd were strikingly pleasant and patient. There was no pushing, no rude comments, no rolling of the eyes. People seemed to quickly assess and accept the situation, and then patiently wait their turn for the large metal freightlike elevators.

Thought 2: I saved someone's life today.
Since I was assigned to come in late (0900) today, my task was to write post-anesthesia notes on yesterday's patients and to respond to cardiac arrests and stat intubation requests. We went all day without a single peep from the arrest pager until about 2:45. The first year anesthesia resident had just beat me to the medical ICU, and we quickly assessed the patient. 60 year old with pancreatitis and worsening respiratory distress. No significant cardiac history. High potassium. Although his blood gases, when last checked, were okay, at a glance I could tell that he was quickly heading to decompensation.

I'd been to many "stat intubations" last year, but this was my first time to be a senior resident and to direct my new anesthesia colleague! We gathered our equipment: larnygoscopes, breathing tubes, oral airways, CO2 detector, and arranged for a free-flowing IV and suction. After applying monitors (there were none when we first arrived since the patient had just been transferred from the floor!) and preoxygenating, I gave repeated doses of propofol until the patient was adequately relaxed with intermittent doses of phenylephrine. I wanted to get the patient deep enough so we could intubate without paralyzing him, since his high potassium meant we couldn't use the very short-acting drug succinylcholine.

This we were able to do. The first-year resident took a look with the laryngoscope while I applied cricoid pressure. I could feel the tube slide through the larynx, and we quickly inflated the cuff and checked for CO2 return and breath sounds as we squeezed the bag. Success!

This was followed by the anticlimactic job of some rather vague and broadly-brushed charting. "Good job!" I told Lynn as we headed back for the security, order, and comfort of the anesthesia lounge. And then I realized that not only was it exciting to be the senior and directing the emergency proceedings, we just potentially saved this man's life as part of our day's work! I'd say it was a good day.

Another post-call day

I've missed the world of blogging, and evidently some of my readers have missed my posts! I got several hours' sleep on call Sunday night, so after a satisfying nap on my new couch yesterday morning, the day was mine to enjoy. I started by doing laundry at nearby Bubbles. On the way back, however, I discovered some workmen doing some welding and installing marble slabs on the new prefabricated metal stair frames that were recently put in, so I dropped the clean laundry off at Ezer and Jan's (they live just a block or so away from me) and suggested Jan could do some ironing if she didn't have much else to do.

I did a little fun reading at the open-air Max's Cafe on Amsterdam while sipping a caffelatte and enjoying a italian tuna and garbanzo bean salad on arugula. Then it was off to Columbia for a structured library environment to do some anesthesia studying.

After a productive hour and a half or so, I walked home, made an omelette for dinner, and got ready to go to the opera with my roommate Jordan, who had complimentary tickets and had invited me earlier that afternoon. More about this on my planned "Jonathan's Month of Culture" post, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Verdi's MacBeth. I think that after I move from New York City down the road (assuming I do), I'm going to miss being able to catch a musical or an opera on the spur of the moment.

Jonathan reenters the world of blogging

Armed with my lap-top, a guilty-pleasure Mary Higgins Clark mystery, and today's crossword puzzle, I made my way this evening to nearby Max's Cafe near the corner of 122nd and Amsterdam for use of their free WiFi internet. When my sister and brother-in-law, Shelley and Chris, came to visit recently, they told me about the internet connection. Since I've been in my new apartment for nearly a month and still don't have internet, I thought I'd take advantage of this luxury afforded by this "Central Perk"-like establishment.

As I sit near the huge open windows looking out on the sidewalk seating, I'm not sure if it's the end of summer or the cusp of autumn. The ever-so-slightly cool breeze, the night air, and my hot caffelatte make me favor the latter. Here, the young gather to read, talk, and drink. If they smoked, one might confuse it for Paris.

My evening was a mellow one. After arriving home around five o'clock, I made some split pea soup with plenty of grated carrot, onion, pepper, and garlic and enjoyed it with a glass of smooth merlot and a leftover skirt steak. This was followed by a quick call to my attending for tomorrow to discuss the planned thymectomy and mediastinoscopy, as well as thirty minutes of leisurely violin playing.

As for my blogging, never before have I gone a full calendar month without a single post. As has been my habit of late, I will probably post a few retrospective posts in the next week or two to highlight some of the more memorable happenings of the month of August and early September. I will mark these titles with an asterisk on behalf of the diligent and thorough reader.

And thank you, readers, for the comments of encouragement. Thanks for staying with me, DO, MG, EK, et al. Hope you enjoy the read, and good night.