Short Blogs

I'm gonna be really busy over the next couple of weeks, so the blogs will be short and sweet.

Highlights

Good Earth, Dr. Miller, Shuang Chen, Venipuncture

Bye,

John

More Dumb Tests

I'm not linking it to this site, because it was a really dumb test. 99%. For all you Mudders out there, fill in the blank

Dr. Myhre (Organic Chemistry Guru) --> Heart --> Blank --> Strength

Key to New Year's Resolutions

I believe that the key to New Year's Resolutions is to have two mutually exclusive resolutions. For example:

1. Be more spontaneous
2. Plan more

Yet Another One

1. Study
2. Relax

Isn't my plan ingenious? By doing whatever I'm doing, I'm fulfilling my New Year's resolutions. Now I don't have the pressure associated with it. Hmmmm ....


John

Big Win for the Gophers!!!!!

I was at the Gopher-Ohio State Basketball game today. For those who don't follow college basketball, Ohio State was the #1 team in the Big 10 and their stifling defense has limited opponents to a mere 56 points. Today the Gophers won in dominating fashion, beating them 89-71. That was the most points Ohio State has given up this season. Chant with me M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A, Minnesota, Minnesota, YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY GOPHERS!

Sitting next to me was Dave Quayle, a buddy of mine from Nu Sig. It was just amazing to be cheering in the student section. I'm sure I'll be in for another treat for the game against Indiana. After Ohio State's loss, Indiana is tied for the top spot in the Big 10.

John

Change of Plans

It is simply too warm to go cross country skiing, but I did try out the nordic track equipment at school. I'm definitely out of shape since I was feeling a little bit pooped after just 10 minutes. I'm surprised that I could still swim after my nordic track workout. I'm pretty sure it is more fun to do it outside, though.

As for Sunday, I might just do a little bit of preview for my GI/musculoskeletal segment. I'll save Como Park for next week.


John

Impulse Buy 01/26/02

I woke up this morning thinking that it would be neat to bike to the recreation center every day, since I've been too lazy to walk there. (Read my new year's resolution about working out). Out of impulse, I went and bought a bike at Varsity Bike Shop. My wallet is not quite as thick, but that's ok I'm really excited about my new bike. I'm normally not extravagant about buying stuff, but I decided to buy myself a belated birthday gift (actually, my aunt Janice helped to subsidize this purchase :) Plus, the weather is really nice for biking and the bike was on sale.


John

P.S.: The best time to buy a bike is during the winter season. However it feels more like spring right now.

Life is Beautiful

It is so gorgeous out here in Minnesota. Right now, I'm stunned that it is in the 40s in the middle of January, who woulda thunk it? I'm planning on going cross country skiing this Sunday at Como Park and then partake in the festivities of St. Paul's Winter Carnival. The snow is melting as we speak, so I might have a change of plans and do some ice skating either. Ok, I've never gone ice-skating or cross-country skiing but I figure that it could be a self-taught kinda thing. I mean do you have to teach your child to walk? I think that he or she would pick it up automatically, but then God didn't create human beings with skates or skis on them :)


John

Done with Tests!

Sometimes you wonder why you study for these exams :) I took one of the renal practice tests before studying for it, and I got everything right. Then I read my notes and got a question wrong because I misread my notes. If I hadn't read my notes, I probably would have guessed the right answer.

Ah, I'm becoming a whiner. I missed 3 questions out of 76 for my combined renal-endocrine pathophys/pharm exam, and I probably missed a point on the essay. As for pathology, I missed 2 question on lab and I got everything right on the lecture portion. Overall, I guess I did alright. The point that I'm making is that medical school warps your mindset about grades. Back in Mudd, I don't think that I cared that much about my grades. The cruel irony is that in Minnesota, the first two years of medical school is honors/pass/fail so theoretically no one should care about grades. However, compared to my classmates I'm a lot less warped about it than they are. After every single test, you would find a stack of challenge forms from my classmates. They resort to going on medline to get an obscure medical journal reference (which I bet they didn't read before the test :) to get a single extra point on the test. After the test, I'm done, through and through ... I don't spend my lunch hour in a bar talking about questions that I missed :)

I guess I shouldn't be writing this when I'm exhausted from test week. I went to medical school because I really believed that I would make a difference in people's lives, not to be a state-of-the-art test taking machine. That is how I felt this week. I could regurgitate facts backwards, forwards until the second after the exam when I begin the slow purge of data. Of course there is the test that begat all tests that is coming up in May (step 1 of the boards). What has kept me going is rereading Sharon's advice on how she loved studying in her kitchen table and in the park. It is also the one time of the year that you get to synthesize all of the information you learn during your first two years. It is a really daunting challenge, but the fun starts when I finally go into the wards. My biggest fear in writing all of this is to convey the wrong impression about school. Like I've written before, there is nothing out there that I would rather do than be in medical school. I love learning the material, and I even like taking the tests :) I like the adrenaline rush I get when I am bubbling at full speed. The downside is the day after ... then you feel the mind-numbing effects of studying 10 hours a day for three days straight. Yup ... time to decompress. Time to give thanks.

Ora et labora (that is what school is all about),


John

Plans for the Week

1. Take tests
2. Set up a root-beer float party for the medical school class
3. Organize my notes for the semester
4. Go cross-country skiing in Como Park
5. Go to the conservatory
6. Dream

John

Perspective

The problem with problems is that it forces you to deal with the present, yet you lose sight of eternity. These are just temporary afflictions according to the apostle Paul, if we hold on to the hope of glory.

Dreams

No time to write something coherent. Letting my mind wander through the stream of consciousness along the river Seine onto the Cathedral in Roen taking a picture, click, click, getting out a postcard of Monet. Enters the church, hears the heavenly father say je t'aime, gazes through the prism of the stain glass windows, wakes up to see 7:30 am on the alarm clock ... needs to go but lets Chris Rice sing hallelujahs for the day shall come.


John

Renal Pathologists are NERDS

Don't get me wrong, I love nephrology but my teachers seem to delight in testing us on the most obscure facts imaginable. I thought that I knew the kidney pretty well, but the old tests are hard, really hard. One of my biggest concerns is that I won't have enough time to study for my other final on Thursday. This too shall pass ....

I don't know why, but I feel like I'm a little bit more stressed this year. It is probably a cumulative effect of not having enough vacation time in the winter :) Anyway, John's sermon really helped me out yesterday. The key word that he stressed is perspective.

Sometimes our problems seem like that they are the biggest problems in the entire world, but compared to what other people go through my problem is actually very trivial. Just think, I have the good fortune of studying medicine and having great time (aside from this week). Sometimes I feel like I need to slow down and dream. Yup, that's it.

Writing more about dreams in the next blog,

John

More Norm

I truly am a _Norm_addict. Even though I have finals coming up, I just spent the last hour perusing the archives of Norm. Aaargh!!!!!

Why is it when I finally feel like I'm getting back into my studying groove that I find all of these diversions? Oh well .... Reading the back archives for Norm is definitely worth it. From the website, I think I know what to get myself after these next series of tests :)

More Craziness

I just joined the Norm club on Yahoo.

Last Pediatrics Session (01/16/02)

Today was a very special day, since it was the last day for my pediatrics session in Shakopee. I've been waiting all year to see a bunch of newborns, and I was really blessed to see 3 of them. It was really exciting for me to see young couples come in with their baby. I will really miss pediatrics ...

Tests are coming up next week, so I'll be decreasing the frequency of my blogs.

Until then,


John

As Time Goes By

What does a medical student do on a Saturday Night?

A. Study
B. Nothing
C. Watch Casablanca
D. I hate multiple choice tests

The answer of course is study until midnight (I'm not the only one. There were 2 other medical students in the study lounge!)

Anyway, as I walked back home saw Ben Casillas walking down the hall. I thought he just finished studying too, but instead he wanted to watch Casablanca at midnight. My mind was mush ... I said sure I'll watch Casablanca, but only for 15 minutes. We snuck into the first year classroom and then watched the movie on a giant screen projector (why didn't I think of this?). A security guard actually came in, but he smiled when he saw us watching Casablanca.

Needless to say I stayed for the entire movie. The worse part of this experience was that I had difficulty sleeping. I mean I must have spent half an hour debating whether I would have done the same thing as Bogart. In the end, I decided that I would have done the same thing, but then I felt really bad because I realized that I would spend my time alone away from the woman I love, stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of Nazis chasing me around.

Still in need for wisdom,


John

The Norm

Recently I have found myself to be addicted to the cartoon strip _The Norm_ by Michael Jantze. The original premise of this cartoon strip was to document the single life of the main character, Norm. I began following the strip when Norm finally asked out his best friend Reine on a date. Anyway, this weekend I found a link to the website (thenorm.com) and began following the story line today. Unlike _9 chickweed lane_ which is favorite all-time strip, there is a lot more character development. The best part of the website was looking at the old story lines. My favorite one was the one with Norm and one of his EGF, Bronte. She travelled 200 miles just to be with Norm at a Star Wars I premiere, but she brought along her Star Trek shirt instead :) You can guess what happened ...

Can't wait for the Sunday installments of Norm,


John

Elrond If I were a character in The Lord of the Rings, I would be Elrond, Elf, ruler of Rivendell and father of Arwen. In the movie, I am played by Hugo Weaving. Who would you be? Zovakware Lord of the Rings Test with Perseus Web Survey Software

Missin' You

Finally they played a Chris Rice song on launch.com! Yayyyyy!!!!

Somewhere behind those stars, is someone who belongs to me
And I know in my deepest heart
There's a place for you
Until I find a place you've made for me
Still I'm missin' you

Ok, I was just just testing if I could type as fast as the song.

Although that song is about God, sometimes it reminds me of the book _The Little Prince_. Sometimes I wish I can read in French like Amy, so I can read it in its original version.

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne
voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

John

Party at the Sanny's

I love spending time over with the Sanny's. They are really cool in a 70s kinda way (just kidding) ... John is one of my role models even if he listens to Bread and John Denver. Hey, when I was younger, I listened to them too (not that I remember ...). I was only 2 or 3, so I had no idea that good music even existed. Some of our core group people couldn't make it unfortunately, but it was still pretty cool watching them on the Adventurous Christian Video.

I'm so looking forward to going to AC in the boundary waters in February. First I need to get cross-country skiing lessons from Kelly Rood. Yesterday, I found out that Chris was on the nordic skiing team on Mounds View just like Kelly. My goal for February is to not get left behind with J.R. Just kidding! I'm just glad that he's not reading my blogs. Unfortunately, knowing me I probably can't resist telling him about it.

We played a few games (nerf gun, blow darts, you know ...) and a game which brings out the best Charlie Chaplin in you. It is sorta like Taboo, but you can't talk. I mean how can you guess the word "love" without talking? Hmmm ... isn't this an interesting conundrum. It is much easier to say I love you, but it is much harder to demonstrate that you love someone.

John

Hero????

Ok, my plans for launch has a few flaws. On the Chris Rice fan station, they did play a lot of cool Christian music. But, "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias???????
What was he or she thinking when the person programmed the Chris Rice fan station? I could understand Lifehouse ... I love Lifehouse ... They were originally worship leaders at Vineyard church. Enrique? I'm just glad that they don't have the simulcast music video with Jennifer Love Hewitt :)

Confession time ... I'm an ex-Party of Five watcher. Sad but true.

John

Studying for Boards

Courtesy of Sharon Smith, I received a very comprehensive plan for studying for boards. What's are boards? No, J.R. they are not made of wood! You can't buy them at Menards. For step 1, they are $405.00 with no discount price. Alright, I'm being facetious ... boards are what second year medical students have to take before going on rotations. It is a comprehensive 8 hour exam covering all of two years of medical school!

I can't thank Sharon enough for spending the time to tell me her preparation. She will make an outstanding doctor after she graduates, but more than that she is an even better person. One of my regrets is that I'm not able to spend more time with third year medical students. All of them are quite busy in their rotations, and it is really hard to stay in touch with most of them.

In the upcoming weeks, I will keep you updated on my board studying.

Bon voyage,

John

Launch

I was really disappointed that radio.sonicnet.com went out of business. They had a premise where you can program your own radio station. So I had this awesome setup of all the contemporary Christian artists that I liked Chris Rice, Ginny Owens, DC Talk, etc ... + Bach, Tori Amos, Elliot Smith, Ani DiFranco, Collective Soul. Ok, so my music tastes are rather eclectic, but there aren't any radio stations out there that plays everything that I like. It was probably an 80:20 ratio between Christian:Secular music.

Today, I just found out that I can do the same thing on launch.com, a subsidiary of yahoo.com. It has most of the same features as radio.sonicnet.com, and it has less commercial advertising! My problem is that I couldn't find ways to program a Christian station. Ahhh ... I'm still quite the resourceful (albeit lazy fellow), so I just went out and hopped on to a Chris Rice fan station. Problem solved.

Bye now,

John

Random Anagrams

A bit more on wasting time. Do you know that you can rearrange Britney Spears' name to presbyterians?

Who woulda thunk it?

I do not dislike Britney, but I don't care for her music either (double negatives are cool). She is actually a baptist (NOT presbyterian) which might explain the fire in her belly. Just kidding :) As a presbyterian, I think that this anagram better suits us even though we pride ourselves in humility (just kidding once again :).

Best in prayer.

Someone is definitely smiling up there,

John

Wednesday clinic (01/09/02)

My preceptor in clinic has been letting me do some interveiws with the pediatrics patients. I've kinda gotten the hang of doing histories on cold and earaches, and I've become a lot more comfortable in doing well-child checkups :)

Thursday

Sleep is getting to be a precious commodity in medical school. I am almost caught up with my classes, but I'm also forgetting the stuff I just learned a week ago :) I probably could get enough sleep if I stop surfing the web.

Here is what I've accomplished by procrastination today

1. Read poems by Rabindranath Tagore
2. Read the merits on Kurt Warner as NFL's MVP
3. Discovered SARK. A little bit too new agey for me
4. Read Thophilus' column
5. Listened to an example of Shepard's scale. A musical illusion, where you hear the scales get progressively higher when in fact you're not going up at all. Then I heard a canon by Bach that illustrated the principle
6. Read updates on the Presbyterian church
7. Read my sister's blog. www.paulinia.blogspot.com
8. Read an article comparing Star Wars Vs. Lord of the Rings
9. Read the Minnesota's arboretum website

John

January 1, 2002

Council of Student Members
c/o Patty Moore, Medical Student Coordinator
ACP-ASIM
190 N. Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Dear Council of Student Members:

I am interested in serving on the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine's (ACP-ASIM) Council of Student Members (CSM), because I would like to further develop the relationship between the internal medicine interest group (IMIG) at the University of Minnesota with other student chapters across the country and physicians in ACP-ASIM. I have been privileged to be a part of IMIG for the past two years. Through my experiences with this group, I have learned that internists have a strong commitment to patients, continuing education, teaching, and collegiality.
Although IMIG is a relatively new group, it has been successful in promoting internal medicine through events such as a golf tournament, "meet the internists party", journal club, mini-morbidity and mortality (mini-M&M) conferences, opportunities in medical research seminar, bowling with the residents, and blood drive. For me, it has bridged the basic science curriculum with the clinical practice of internal medicine.
At the IMIG annual pizza party and golf tournament, internists from nearly every specialty mingle with the students. The students also have the opportunity to interact with the residents from the various internal medicine residency programs during bowling night. I have been impressed by the physicians' willingness to reach out to the next generation of doctors. By joining the CSM, I hope to further the relationship between doctors in ACP-ASIM with the medical students at large.
As the co-chair of IMIG, I have the responsibility for organizing the journal club and mini-M&M series. In our mini-M&M conferences the medical students review the pathophysiology of an organ system by going over an actual case. It has enabled medical students to gain insight into the internist's thought processes. I have been impressed by ACP-ASIM commitment to life-long learning by publishing MKSAP and organizing many continuing medical education seminars. However many of the great resources from ACP-ASIM remain underutilized by medical students at my school. By becoming part of CSM, I would like to increase the awareness of ACP-ASIM's resources for medical students. I am also excited by CSM's e-learning initiative and I would like to be involved in its implementation.
From reading the IMpact newsletter, our group has received many group activity ideas from across the country. I would like to foster cooperation between IMIG at the University of Minnesota with other ACP-ASIM student chapters. I am greatly appreciative of the support ACP-ASIM has given to our student group, and I would like to give back to the ACP-ASIM by joining CSM.

Sincerely,



John Hartono

Eleventh day of Christmas

Apparently, I had this brilliant idea on going to an Afghan restaurant for dinner. You see, I was really curious about the food since it probably is a mix of Persian and Indian cuisines. Oh, the war over there also piqued my interest in what they had.

The atmosphere was nice (groovy afghan music, dim lights, the usual), and the waiter was really understanding when my party increased from 7 to 12. It was a little bit cramped, but I was able to get the alpha chair of the table with Jon Parkhurst :) The food was made fresh in the kitchen, but we had to wait for about an hour to be served. The wait was almost worth it, but I would recommend going there when the restaurant isn't full. I had this dish (can't pronounce or spell the name) that consisted of meatballs, chutney, rice, and tortilla-looking bread. The Indians call it nan, but I'm not really sure what it is in Afghani. For dessert, I was going to get the everybody's favorite, Baklava but they ran out.

The best part about the evening was talking about different events that we could pull off on the talent show. It was fun imagining things, me as chief resident for example, but Kris Kimber scheduled the talent show on my planned Northern Exposure trip. I'm sure there are a plenty of people out there who are more daring than me :)

Twelfth Day of Christmas

Finished my CV

Thirteenth Day of Christmas

Finished my personal statement.

John

IQ tests

After taking the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, I proceeded to take the IQ test on advisorteam.com

According to the website, my general IQ score is 155. I'm not really sure what it means, but since it's on the internet you can take it for what it's worth.

Here's my Keirsey Temperament Sorter Results

The Guardian Portrait
All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:

Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.
Guardians are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply--and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.

Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population.

Darn, I can't resist procrastinating on the internet. Here is another internet personality test -- I find them to be addictive. In fact, when I took one of those tests on the internet, I got "most likely to take an internet test" :) There are two more internet tests that are referenced in my archives.

Ok, here's the skinny. I am easy going and spiritual. No, I'm not a liberal. Yes, I do look good in sea green.

What am I supposed to be doing? Yes, I remember ... I have to write a CV and a personal statement for my candidacy on the student council of the America College of Physicians. If elected, I will be representing medical students from the midwest region. So if you're a medical student, vote for JOHN for student council!!! Alas, I think the students won't have a say, and the voting would be done by the board of trustees instead.

The last time I was on the internet, I was surfing for U2. Sis, birthday gift .... U2 CD 4 ME? Just kidding ... Do you know what is on Bono's reading list? _The Message_ by Peterson. Isn't that amazing! Before he was in U2, Bono was actually part of a christian rock group if you could believe that or not. If you read between the lines, you could see a ton of spiritual overtones in his songs. For example, the song "One" in _Achtung Baby_ is on the third track. Get it? One is Three, Three is One. Father, Spirit, and Son are One. Sarah Hinlicky has written an insightful article in boundless.org (amazing webzine) about the spiritual nature of U2. Achtung Baby is the first album that turned me on to U2, in fact _One_ is probably my favorite song of all time. Alas, I don't have any U2 CDs yet although I have made some illegal bootlegs of the radio for my own personal enjoyment. Shhh ....

Gotta get back to work,


John

This quiz says absolutely nothing about your personality. Take it!

Sixth Day of Christmas

Played a wicked game of ping-pong with Dave. I really need to step up my game, since everytime I see him he keeps getting better. Unfortunately, I don't get that much time playing ping-pong with school starting again. The good news is that pastor John said that the church will be getting a ping-pong table. Yayy!!!

Everyone who's been keeping up with my blogs know of my devotion for In N' Out burgers. Well, Dave gave me an In N Out shirt (size large, I think he might be telling me something :) I have gained quite a big of weight over the break, but everyone just tells me that I'm hallucinating. Maybe I'm just getting denser.

Seventh Day of Christmas

I spent some time with my auntie at where else, In N Out. We met this woman who began telling us about her family, especially her daughter. Her daughter married someone who was 18 years older than her but who has a ton of money. It is really interesting what money can buy, but I don't think that it can buy happiness.

Eighth Day of Christmas

Flew back to Minnesota via Denver. I'm very lucky that John was able to pick me up from the airport. He is a very fun guy to be around, and it is amazing how many people know him. I had a wonderful dinner at his house -- Diana is an amazing cook. I can still picture it in my mind chicken, sweet potatoes, salad, and homemade muffins. By the way, Northwest has much better food and snacks than United. They also have better flight attendants, but I would probably pick the cheaper airline if I had to travel to California. Happy New Year everyone!

New Year Resolutions

1. Plan to exercise (done!!!!!)
2. Exercise (Umm ... once I get free time)
3a. Wake up early (8 o'clock classes are a motivating factor)
3b. On weekends (We'll see ...)
4. Be more organized (So far, so good)
5. Send cards early

Ninth Day of Christmas

My doctor called in sick, so I wasted an hour traveling roundtrip from the clinic. Thankfully, I was able to do some shopping and some errands. I can't believe that I'm back in school!

Tenth Day of Christmas

Here I am blogging away when I should be preparing my personal statement to be on the American College of Physician's student council. Ok. I'll stop blogging now.

John

Christmas Cards

I feel terribly guilty since I havn't sent Christmas cards. One of my new year's resolutions is to send them out really early this year.

Here's a quote from a card that I got from Jessie G.

"To doctors. Yours is not only a profession, but a vocation - the vocation to be God's love, God's compassion, God's healing power to the suffering. God has chosen you for a special mission. Being a doctor means going out and touching Dod in each of the suffering, whether it be the rich or the poor, for sickness strikes all."

Mother Teresa