Liberation

Song of the Day: 15 Step - Radiohead

Quote of the Day: "Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going." --George S. Patton

Thought of the Day: Music, art, and philosophy merge: This morning got up determined to run 10 miles. The Charlottesville 10 miler is in 2 weeks, and I wanted to make sure I'm ready. Sweewawa and I watched Patton a couple of nights ago, and I was impresed with the strength of mind and body he displayed in the film and the way he was able to inspire this strength in his worn-out soliders. I did my run today thinking that it was nothing compared to marching through Germany in the winter with a heavy pack on dodging bullets and shells. And it turns out 10 miles wasn't actually that hard once you get your mind past it.

The run was also made easier by the choice of some quality music -- started off with a little Belding Principle (my old band), moved on to Dream Theater, and then listened to Radiohead's In Rainbows. In Rainbows is one of my favorite albums of all time and is one I'll never forget in that it got me through a long period of studying for USMLE Step 2. The Song of the Day is the 1st track from the album, a song particularly funny to listen to while running around a circular track as it laments "How come I end up where I started?"

Back home I enjoyed the afternoon / evening by continuing my reading of Hofstadter's book Godel, Escher, Bach. Encountered in it the beautiful work Liberation by M.C. Escher. The transition region between geometric figures and free-flying birds is really intriguing . . . perhaps the process of our inner-most thoughts percolating out and translating into actions and words is a little like his drawing.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Santa Barbara

California dreaming

Match Day

Song of the Day:

California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas

California Dreaming - Wes Montgomery

Quote of the Day: "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!" --French proverb

Thought of the Day: Match Day 2009 yesterday at noon was an amazing experience. About 170 of us medical students gathered in the historic Bolling Haxall house in Richmond. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. 170 people, waiting to be handed the white envelope that would tell their fate for the next 3-5 years. My heart was sure beating faster as I waited for them to call my name. Names were called in random order, and finally they did call me (more than halfway through the names). Then Sweewawa and I opened the envelope and were ecstatic/surprised/happy/relieved to find out that I had matched at my first choices for both internship and residency! I will be staying at VCU to do my internship in Internal Medicine and then will be heading out west to Santa Barbara, CA to do my residency at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. It couldn't have worked out more perfect for us. We're thrilled. I felt so proud to have matched at my first choices, it was very validating that all the long hours of studying and work in the hospital was worth it! Included also in this post are some beautiful pictures of Santa Barbara. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

I Can't Wait

Song of the Day: Can't Wait - Bob Dylan





Quote of the Day: "Well begun is half done." --Aristotle

Thought of the Day: I can't wait, I anticipate, standin' at the gate, what's my fate? Tomorrow at noon is when I find out where I'll be for the next 4-6 years . . . I really hope I get one of my top choices for residency, but really any choice on my list is quite desirable. I'm really happy to be going into Radiology! Can't wait for the wait to be over.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Fair Tax

Tea Party Revisited

David Homyk

The latest offering from my buddy David Homyk:

Happy 100th post!

Song of the Day: The Musical Offering, BWV 1079 - Ricercar a 3 - Johann Sebastian Bach



Quote of the Day: "Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for." --Socrates

Thought of the Day: Recently began re-reading a favorite book: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (A Metaphorical Fugue on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carroll). This is a brilliant book which describes the shared patterns of beauty found in works of Math (Godel), Art (M.C. Escher), and Music (J.S.Bach). My song of the day today is J.S.Bach's Musical Offering, a masterpiece which is built around the musical (and somewhat mathematical) concept of the "canon". The "canon" is essentially taking one pattern and shifting it around (delaying it in time, speeding it up, modifying starting pitch, "inverting" it, etc). The superimposed parts create beautiful harmonies. The genius of Bach, in my view, is that he was able to create such complex mathematical patterns in his music without having the works sound formulaic or boxy. Also amazing is that he was able to improvise multi-part cannons on the spot, a tremendously difficult mental exercise!

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Match'd!

Song of the Day: Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Rocky")

Quote of the Day: "Eighty percent of success is showing up." --Woody Allen

Thought of the Day: Today got some great news: I found out that I have successfully matched for positions in my Internship year and my Residency in Radiology!! Now I have to wait until Thursday at noon to find out WHERE. But I'm definitely thrilled, this news represents the culmination of more than 4 years of REALLY hard work. I'm so happy to have matched in Radiology, which is a quite competitive specialty to match in. I think I'll really enjoy being a Radiologist for my career.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Bessie's Blues

Song of the Day: St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith

Quote of the Day: "They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." --Andy Warhol

Thought of the Day: On this rainy day I'm listening to the great Bessie Smith sing the blues. The sounds really match the heavy, slow feel of this dreary day. Last night it was raining as well but Sweewawa and I celebrated indoors with a 6 course French meal which I prepared. The courses were (1) Aperitif: Kir and veggie platter (2) Entree: Soupe à l'Oignon gratinée (3) Main: Lamb medaillons with garlic (4) Cheese platter (Brie, Rocquefort, and Camembert) & Salad (5) Dessert: Congolais (Coconut biscuits) (6) Espresso (with Dark Chocolate). I prepared all the dishes myself, it was time-consuming but very satisfying! All recipes can be found at this wonderful site:

http://www.ffcook.com/pages/dinner.htm

Cheers & Bon Apetit, Dr. Kowawa

Wes does the Beatles

Songs of the Day:

Eleanor Rigby - Wes Montgomery

A Day In The Life - Wes Montgomery

Quote of the Day: ""Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." --Ayn Rand

Thought of the Day: The Songs of the Day are two brilliant takes of Wes Montgomery doing Beatles tunes. Love the orchestration on this album (A Day in the Life).

Vice versa

Song of the Day: The Sinister Minister - Bela Fleck

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes virtue can be a vice, and vice versa." --Dr. Kowawa

Thought of the Day: Had a great workout today, again following Mr. Jefferson's two hour suggestion. Did a total of 10 miles at Echo Lake, the majority of which was jogging. Now I feel pretty good. The pic above is Sweewawa's latest brush painting, which I think is really beautiful. I really like the sense of space and distance.

Miyazaki

Song of the Day: Take It To The Limit - Etta James

Quote of the Day: "Is someone different at age 18 or 60? I believe one stays the same." --Hayao Miyazaki

Thought of the Day: Sweewawa and I thoroughly enjoyed this evening watching the Miyazaki anime "Howl's Moving Castle". It is truly one of the best movies I have ever seen. The animations were so spirited, and the characters and plot were incredible. As celebration of finishing all my responsibilities of medical school we watched this film while sipping Maker's Mark whiskey and smoking a Davidoff 2000 cigar (my favorite). After the cigar we enjoyed the burning of frankincense (from the Middle East), which our cat Thenie enjoyed even more than we did. What an evening! I would highly recommend this combination of treats to anyone so inclined.

Liver boo-boo

Song of the Day: Surrounded - Dream Theater

Quote of the Day: "Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken." --Ludwig van Beethoven

Thought of the Day: Tomorrow I will be doing a presentation on Fulminant Hepatic Failure (aka the ultimate liver boo-boo). This effort will represent essentially my last project / work for medical school. Can't believe I'm done . . . and am looking forward to an extended break before starting the challenge of intern year. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

What a wonderful world

Icicles remain

Songs of the Day: Birdland - Weather Report

A Remark You Made - Weather Report

Quote of the Day: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" --Mark Twain

Thought of the Day: It's still cold in Richmond, though the "snow days" are over . . . I started my Teaching in Medicine elective rotation today. Last night and this morning Sweewawa and I reveled in some beautiful icicles hanging from rooftop outside our bedroom window. Yesterday Sweewawa mentioned that the most dangerous time for young birds is late Winter / early spring when a surprise snowstorm hits. So I refilled our porch bird feeder with a variety of nuts and other bird delicacies and sure enough, little birdies were chowing down this AM when I woke up. It felt good to be helping these little creatures our through this cold weather spell. The musical offerings for the day are two absolutely gorgeous recordings from Weather Report, a band which includes as members the greats Jaco Pastorius, Joe Jawinul, and Wayne Shorter. The album, Heavy Weather, was recorded in the year of my birth (1977). Thought of the first tune, Birdland, due to our successful bird-feeding. The second, A Remark you Made, is sweet and sublime. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Snowy snowy night

Songs of the Day: Winter Wonderland - Tony Bennett

My Favorite Things - Tony Bennett

Quote of the Day: "Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." --Lao Tze, Chinese philosopher from 6th century BC

Thought of the Day: Writing this eve in front of a warm fire. Outside Richmond is being blanketed by a thickening layer of white snow. Quite a rare treat for Richmond in March. Wish I were on the slopes now . . . and am hoping tomorrow might be a "snow day".

Training for 10 miler

Song of the Day: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op.48 - Pezzo in forma di Sonatina - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Quote of the Day: "The first wealth is health." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thought of the Day: The song of the day is one of my favorite classical compositions of all time. A very grand, very emotional offering by P.I.Tchaikovsky. I still remember the feeling I had playing this with the Charlottesville High School orchestra at a competition (we won) in NYC. I remember our performance gave me goosebumps . . . and at that time I really was more into metal and heavy stuff than classical in general so this really said a lot! Today I re-visited the metal roots a little bit during my exercise session. Sweewawa and I have two races coming up -- the Monument 10K March 28th and the Charlottesville 10 miler April 4th. I am now feeling pretty ready for the 10K but still have some work to do before being ready for the 10 miler. Anyway, today I listened to an old favorite that had been gathering dust of late -- Metallica's Master of Puppets, a really great album. It combines, at times, the beauty and raw emotion of Tchaikovsky but also has the power of a sledgehammer.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

I'm a lot like you were

Song of the Day: Old Man - Neil Young

Quote of the Day: "I'm gonna give up giving up stuff for Lent." --Dr. Kowawa

Thought of the Day: Song of the day is a wonderful tune by Neil Young, I've loved this chorus for a long time. The pic is an old man I photographed in Lijiang, in the Yunnan Province of China in July 2007. Today had another fulfilling day of exercise and fun. Ran a little more than previously, am gradually working up to 10K and then 10 miles . . . one thought I had again while running -- a little bit of fear at the realization that I am done with all my clinical and book-learning of medical school, i.e. that this is about as much as I'll know when I begin actually functioning as an MD in July! Kind of scary, but I do think I'm up for the task. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Spring is here?

Song of the Day: All The Things You Are - Joe Pass

Quote of the Day: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." --Albert Einstein

Thought of the Day: Had another couple of wonderful free days. I have been trying to exercise for 2 hours per day (per Mr. Thomas Jefferson's suggestion), combining running, walking, and lifting. Today Sweewawa and I walked at Richmond's Byrd Park and Maymont Park. The weather is lovely today, with temps in the mid-60's. Feels like spring is on the way, though I'm sure we'll have some cold spells yet. Yesterday I finalized my residency Rank List, which is the ordering of my preference for internship and residency programs. Now I start the agonizing 3 week wait until Match Day (March 19th) when we'll find out where we're going. I wish Match Day were tomorrow!