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!

Happy Mardis Gras

Song of the Day: Work To Do - The Isley Brothers

Quote of the Day: "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." --Thomas Jefferson

Thought of the Day: The song of the day today is a tip of the hat to the fact that I do not in fact have lots of work to do . . . for the first time in a long time. The last few months I have been very very busy with completing my interviews for internship and residency and, during Jan-Feb, doing a month of Emergency Medicine. Now I'm done. I have completed my last tough requirements for medical school, and it feels really great. I took my last exam of medical school on Wednesday of last week and my last shift in the ED on Friday. Woohoo!! This weekend Sweewawa and I celebrated by going skiing at Wintergreen resort. Quite fun until Sweewawa got steamrolled by an out-of-control snowboarder yesterday (with minor injuries sustained . . . she's OK now).



Anyway, I'm back home now in Richmond and am enjoying some well-deserved R&R. Wanted to revisit the old blog as I feel it is a really valuable growing experience. I would like to try to keep adding favorite songs, quotes, and thoughts in the coming months. Yesterday I celebrated Mardis Gras by making my own special recipe of Gumbo. Turned out really well, recipe is found in the previous post. Made enough for several days of Gumbolicious enjoyment. I am also enjoying this time off by (a) training for my upcoming footraces -- the Richmond Monument 10 K and the Charlottesville 10 miler (b) learning some jazz guitar -- I plan to work on learning some Joe Pass tunes (c) reading Sweewawa suggested literature and (d) watching movies -- most recently Millenium Actress -- which turned out to be one of our favorite films we've ever seen! Plan to keep posting updates to the blog in the coming days. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Favorite Recipes

Appetizers:

Artichoke Dip

I tried this recipe when our old friends Jason & Erin came to visit us from Seattle, it was a hit, I definitely want to make it again.

Makes about 4 cups, can serve in ~2 cup portions baked.

1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup of mayonnaise
ground pepper
splash of white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
a little olive oil
1 cup of finely chopped onion
small amount of bread crumbs

Combine mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and onion in a bowl. Drain the artichoke hearts really well, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Mince using food processor, and add to bowl. Add pepper and mix in to the point where you can still see it's presence in the large mixture. Add 2-4 tablespoons of white wine based on preference. This mixture can sit in the refrigerator for a while. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and spoon the mixture into a small baking dish (I used a small circular ~2 cup glass dish). Sprinkle enough bread crumbs to just cover the surface. Then add dashes of olive oil on top. Bake for ~25 minutes until bread crumbs are very brown and the entirety of the mixture is bubbling noticeably. Serve with crackers or toast. Enjoy!

Main dishes:

Cuisinart Rustic Tomato Sauce

http://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/sauces/5922.html

Pineapple Steamed Rice

. . . recipe to be added!

Spaghetti a la Carbonara

. . . recipe to be added!

Sweewawa's Flounder Noodles

. . . recipe to be added!

Sweewawa's Japanese-style Salmon

. . . recipe to be added!

Mark's Miso Sea Bass

. . . recipe to be added!

Coq au Vin

. . . recipe to be added!

40 Clove Crockpot Chicken

. . . recipe to be added!

Ribified Soupification

. . . recipe to be added!

Pineapple Fried Rice

. . . recipe to be added!

Pesto

. . . recipe to be added!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the first post of 2009! Ringing in the second year of this blog . . .

Song of the Day: 316 - Van Halen (from 1993 album Van Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now)

Quote of the Day: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind." -- Bob Marley

Thought of the Day: Today we enjoyed some delicious home-made yogurt and yogurt-tofu that Sweewawa and I made. It was yummy! The flavoring was papaya + honey + really good green tea. The delicacies you make yourself just taste so much better. I aim to make 2009 filled with more creative artistic and culinary experiments such as this one. During a recent workout I busted out some old Van Halen -- reminded me of listening to these tunes with my old buds Hart and Colten. The Eddie Van Halen solo tune listed above still makes me very happy . . . and the energy expressed within the musical bars is what we should all take into the new year. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

More Brush Painting

Here are some more beautiful brush painting examples painted by Sweewawa:

In a Silent Way

Song of the Day: In A Silent Way/It's About That Time - Miles Davis (from the 1969 album In a Silent Way)

Quote of the Day: “Don't play what's there, play what's not there.” --Miles Davis

Thought of the Day: I love the above music and quote from Miles Davis. I think Miles' approach to music is similar to Chinese brush painting. The approach is minimalist, with the emphasis being on each stroke or note subtly changing the blank space to create a feeling when perceived by eyes or ears, respectively. The silence is like a golden low-lying moon, and the tones created by Miles and his band are like dots of stars and planets on a cold winter night horizon.

Brush painting cards

Wanted to highlight a particularly nice example of Sweewawa's brush painting card project:

All Blues

Song of the Day: All Blues - Kenny Burrell

Quote of the Day: "Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual...Give about two of them [hours] every day to exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes the mind strong." --Thomas Jefferson

Thought of the Day: I have had a fair amount of free time lately, which is a real luxury after three and a half tough years of medical school. First, it has been great having time to exercise. I've been trying during this time to follow TJ's suggestions in the above quote. Second, I've had a wonderful time playing some music. Currently I'm working on learning the masterful jazz guitar technique exhibited by Kenny Burrell on his take of the Miles Davis tune "All Blues". Ah, free time!

Fireside Post

Song of the Day: Whiskey Lullaby - Brad Paisley

Quote of the Day: "You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." --Yogi Berra

Thought of the Day: Sitting here in front of a warm fire at home on a cold December day. The song of the day is a tune I heard on the radio once, very simple and sad. I'm not a great fan of country music but I do have to say that country musicians are masterful storytellers. I'm about to start writing thank-you letters to various residency programs at which I have recently interviewed. I have found that the act of trying to write sincere thank-you letters itself gives one a glimpse into how good a fit the program is for you. If you struggle to find the words for how you enjoyed the interview day and visiting the program it is a sign that it might not be a great fit.

Pittsburgh

Song of the Day: One Of Us - Joan Osborne

Quote of the Day: "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." --Aldous Huxley

Thought of the Day: Back from Radiology and Preliminary Internal Medicine interviews in Santa Barbara, New York City, and Pittsburgh, whew! It feels good that I'm more than half way done with interviews now. Also finished my Abdominal Imaging rotation, and got Honors! I'm still quite excited about going into Radiology. The song above is a splendid piece by Joan Osborne. My uncle Don plays this one really well, heard it at Thanksgiving.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Calligraphy placemats

Song of the Day: The Lighthouse's Tale - Nickel Creek

Quote of the Day: "One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine" --William Osler

Thought of the Day: The song above is a beautiful tune Sweewawa and I have been learning the last few days. How much more fun it is to do music and art than to waste time watching TV!! Below also see Sweewawa's latest art project -- the calligraphy / brush painting placemat!

Drunken Madness

During Thanksgiving we played quite a lot of music. We recorded Sweewawa playing the Guqin, a Chinese instrument with over 2000 years of history. We got the instrument about 6 months ago, shipped to us from China via a California online dealer. Sweewawa has gotten quite good on Guqin in a short time -- below is her first musical Guqin offering for this blog, a tune entitled "Drunken Madness" written around 200 AD. Perhaps Sweewawa will add some history of the tune in a later blog post.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Getting Better all the Time

Song of the Day: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Quote of the Day: "Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thought of the Day: Have been very busy these days on the interview trail many days a week. Have been struck with the fact that the people I meet in all Radiology departments are the types of people I like to hang around -- intelligent, creative, well-rounded, relaxed people with good perspective on life. I know from this that I've chosen the right field. The salary and lifestyle perks of Radiology are nice, but in the end what's important is the people you interact with all day long as a Radiologist.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Dr. Kowawa, AI

Song of the Day: Blue Sky - The Allman Brothers Band

Quote of the Day: "X-rays will prove to be a hoax." --Lord Kelvin

Thought of the Day: I have been quite busy over the last few weeks with two things: my Internal Medicine AI (Acting Internship) and interviewing. The acting internship is a position originally born out of shortage of available interns during WWII. The AI, or subinternship as it is called in some places, is where a 4th year medical student assumes the role of an intern on the medical team. After WWII ended most medical schools kept the AI concept in place as they realized it not only served as a solution for staffing shortages but also served as an excellent educational experience for medical students. In my AI I make "orders" in the computer system for drugs, therapies, lab tests, etc, and assume full responsibility for my list of patients. The only thing that differentiates me from the other interns (first year MD's) is that my "orders" must be co-signed once entered in the system. It's a very different ballgame from 3rd year rotations and is a fun challenge! You learn medicine differently when forced to make actual decisions about drug dosages, which labs to order, etc. The other thing that has been keeping me busy is interviewing for Radiology residencies. So far I have interviewed at UVa, U. Maryland, and Drexel/Hahnemann. The interview process is fun but pretty draining. For the last few weeks my interview days have been my "days off", so I haven't had much time for relaxing! Will write more about the interview process in the coming days.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Keep movin'

Song of the Day: The Forgotten (Part 2) - Joe Satriani

Quote of the Day: "Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still." --Chinese proverb

Thought of the Day: Saw Joe Satriani on Friday night, this was time #3. He was awesome, and Sweewawa loved it! Can cross that one off the To Do list of life . . .

The Wards

Song of the Day: Love Thing - Joe Satriani

Quote of the Day: "A little better is a lot better than a little worse." --Dr. Kowawa

Thought of the Day: This thought just percolated its way to my lips this morning while I was talking to a patient about her condition and progress since yesterday. I think it's a keeper :)

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Sherlock Holmes

Song of the Day: Home - Joe Satriani

Quote of the Day: "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." --Confucius

Thought of the Day: Getting ready to start my Internal Medicine Acting Internship tomorrow -- will be a real challenge! One important thing I realized is that my last two months of Diagnostic Radiology and Radiation Oncology have been two of my most favorite months during medical school. While I did enjoy my IM 3rd year rotation, I do feel that I was happier and felt more comfortable in the company of Radiologists and Radiation Oncologists -- this for me represents an important indication that I've picked the right field. But nevertheless I'm still looking forward to a month of Internal Medicine, I think it's very intellectually fulfilling to wear the Internal Medicine Sherlock Holmes detective hat.

Cheers,

Dr. Kowawa

Obamallamadingdong

Song of the Day: Song of the Day: Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton -- this one goes out to my Sweewawa

Quote of the Day: "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone." --Bill Cosby

Thought of the Day: If Obama can nail the debate tonight I think the race is settled. I'm still strongly considering a vote for the Democratic ticket this year, though I am a conservative, but am a little afraid that Obama will end up taxing us to oblivion.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa