My 1st Time in an OR

It's like another world. TV's showing the x-ray films on every wall, a ton of lights, and two full sterile tables full of crazy looking tools designed to do some serious damage.

I didn't know if I was going to be watching a surgery or an extreme interegation.

Today was my first time in an OR and I throughly enjoyed it. I got a chance to watch a left total hip replacement with one of the nicest surgeons in the hospital. He even took a couple stops to show me stuff...like a completely removed femoral head (ligamentum teres included) and the finished hip replacement.

The surgery itself went about like I would have expected. I had to move around a lot to get some so-so views, but I still had a lot of fun.

I always knew why my patients were in so much pain following total joint replacements, but seeing the amount of trauma that goes into a replacement really gives you another perspective.

Overall it was a great experience. I could watch ortho surgeries all day and not get bored, but unfortunately, I had to get back to treating patients!

I'm off work tomorrow to caddy for my friend trying to qualify for my SC Amatuer. Should be a lot of fun and I'll try to do a write up on that.

Review of My MLB Predictions

Eh...maybe I should just starting doing like Mike & Mike and start calling these "predictions sure to go wrong." Well...let's see what the damage is.

First, a look back at my predictions...

NL East
1. New York Mets, 2. Philidelphia Phillies, 3. Atlanta Braves, 4. Florida Marlins, 5. Washington Nationals

NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs, 2. Cinncinati Reds, 3. St. Louis Cardinals, 4. Houston Astros, 5. Milwaukee Brewers, 6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. Arizona Diamondbacks, 3. Colorado Rockies, 4. San Fransisco Giants, 5. San Diego Padres

AL East
1. New York Yankees, 2. Boston Red Sox, 3. Tampa Rays, 4a. Baltimore Orioles, 4b. Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central
1. Chicago White Sox, 2. Minnesota Twins, 3. Kansas City Royals, 4. Detroit Tigers, 5. Cleveland Indians

AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels, 2. Oakland Athletics, 3. Texas Rangers, 4. Seattle Mariners

With the MLB season a little more than 1/3 of the way through...let's see how I'm doing.

NL East: Well, at least we can start off with a positive note. I've nailed this one so far (5/5) which is a little disappointing since I wanted the Braves to prove me wrong. No such luck so far.

NL Central: Uh...yeah...that would be an O'fer. Not one team in the correct spot so far. The Cubs have been disappointing and sit in 4th place. I was close on Cincy and St. Louis...just had them flip-flopped. Milwaukee is the real surprise as they sit on top of the division. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are just crushing it. I don't think they have enough to hold on, but right now...no one wants to step up and claim the division.

NL West: As I predicted the Dodgers are running away from the rest of the West so far. I think their magic number is already at 9....I kid, I kid...kind of. After that though I was almost completely backwards. San Fran has been a nice surprise as their pitching and hitting have finally started coming together. Arizona has already fired a manager and sits in last place. So much for those young bats and pitchers making strides. Only Justin Upton has shown improvement while Dan Haren is his steady, amazing self. The new manager thinks they're about to hit their stride though. We'll see.

AL East: Another O'fer, but I was a little closer on this one. Boston has a narrow lead with the Yanks right behind. Tampa is 4th, but they're finally starting to hit and Toronto is coming back down to Earth. Doc Holliday's injury doesn't help them either, but at least he's not going on the disabled list. Baltimore has a lot of nice young talent, but they're probably a year or two away.

AL Central: Well...I've got 2 right so far - The Twins in 2nd and Cleveland in last place. The friggin' Tigers have screwed me so far. Who knew they'd actually find some pitching this year? Despite Zach Grieke's amazing start, the Royals continue to disappoint me and my friend, Ben.

AL West: Another O'fer. Much like the Tigers, who knew the Rangers could find some pitching in that launching pad of a stadium? As long as they get good pitching, the Rangers will continue to do well b/c despite Hamilton's injury...they're still a very strong hitting lineup.

So, I got one division completely right, but that was cancelled out with 3 where I didn't get one right. Ouch. At least there's still about 100 games left in the season. I'll try to check again when the season is 2/3 of the way through.

FINALLY!

Man...I didn't think that would ever end. I'm finally done with school work for my 2nd year of PT school as I turned in my last paper this morning! That was one of the worst months of school I've ever had. I had maybe 2 days off the whole month. Ugh. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Those people who say they'd leave their job to go back to school any day of the week are NOT talking about grad school. The really sad part is that all of my class views 40 hours of work a week for 8 weeks (without pay) as a BREAK. Crazy.

While I know I'm not fully prepared for this clinical, I am excited about getting a chance to practice PT again. I mean, that first time I have to clean up poop of whatever I'm going to wish that I wasn't doing this stuff, but I'm sure I'll get over it quickly.

Things really don't slow down for me though. During clinical I'm going to have to do an article review, a pharmacology project, and work on my dissertation literature review. Yikes. Oh well. At least I won't be studying neuro or cardiac arrhythmias!

That's all for now, but I'll try to get a few updates up here soon, including a look at how bad my projections for MLB are going.

My "Five"

So, I've never been a big fan of Friends, but a particular episode came up while I was hanging out with a couple of friends at Ben and Carrie Beth's wedding. Actually, it was my friend Dan and his girlfriend, Lauren. We were watching TV and some attractive woman was on the TV. Lauren responded with, "she's in Dan's 5." Seeing as I don't watch Friends, I had to ask what that meant. Apparently "the 5" is the 5 celebrities that Chandler or Monica can sleep with without the other person getting mad.

While I certainly wouldn't advocate that sort of thing, it got me thinking about who my five would be in that given situation. Luckily, Maxim's Hot 100 just came out so I had plenty of...uh...research to go through to pick my five. I had a hard time picking just 5, so I've included several "tiers." Without any further delay... (one note though...this could theoretically change daily so don't hold me to any of this :) ).

My "Five"

1. Eva Mendes - I fell hard for Eva in Hitch, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. She's beyond sexy and belongs near the top of anyone's list.

2. Keira Knightly - This Brit is absolutely gorgeous (see her last real scene in Love Actually and tell me she's not one of the hottest women on the planet), and she has some serious acting "chops" to go along with her good looks.


3. Kristen Bell - A lot of people first got to know Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars, but I didn't see her until her appearances on Heroes. She played the dangerous and damaged half-villain, half confused teenager who's electric looks equalled the electricity coming out of her hands.

4. Jessica Biel - Biel's underwear scene in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry won the hearts of many young men, but most people probably became familiar with Biel from her appearances on 7th Heaven. The thing I like about Biel is that she doesn't fit into the ditsy blonde starlet category. She seems more mysterious and she has a little toughness to her that is appealing.

5. Elisha Cuthbert - The other "Elisha" (Elisha Dushku) seems to be the hot ticket right now, but lets not forget about Miss Cuthbert. She really burst onto the scene as a former porn star in The Girl Next Door, but most people probably first noticed her in her brief appearances in Old School and Love Actually. It's all about the eyes with Cuthbert. Her seductive glare could bring most men to their knees. She's had some pretty big duds moviewise since The Girl Next Door, but her recent appearances on 24 may be what she needs to get the momentum going again. Despite the poor quality of roles like House of Wax and Captivity, one thing is still certain...Cuthbert is stunning.

The First 5 Out (those who just missed the cut):

a-Carrie Underwood - Amazing voice to go with amazing looks
b-Mila Kunis - Hard not to see her as the uber-annoying "Jackie" on That 70's Show, but that doesn't change the fact that she is incredibly attractive. Her role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, makes up for some less than stellar roles
c- Malin Akerman - The pretty platinum blonde swede is starting to come into her own as an actress.
d-Mandy Moore - Don't judge me. She's very attractive. But more appealing than that, she seems to be a very smart person, and she's also a very talented singer and decent actress.
e-Scarlet Johansson - I can't quite put my finger on what makes this smokey-voiced, blonde star so attractive. I just know that she is.
EDIT: I'm breaking the rules a bit and adding ESPN's Erin Andrews to this part. Any guy who loves sports and ESPN probably also loves Andrews. Every guys dream...a gorgeous woman who loves sports as much if not more than he does. Awesome.

Others Considered:

- Amanda Bynes (again, don't judge me...I find her very attractive)
-Hayden Panettiere
-Avril Lavigne
-Jessica Alba
-Laura Prepon
-Arielle Kebbel
-Jennifer Morrison
-Diane Kruger
-Rachel McAdams
-Katherine Heigl
-Natalie Portman

Post #100 - Ben and Carrie Beth's Wedding

Just a warning...this is a long post.

So, this past weekend I went down to Columbus, GA for the wedding of another roommate from college. I love to go to weddings of my friends. As much as I may joke about being bitter about single, I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I do look forward to the day when I find that person I'm meant to be with...especially if it means I can have a relationship like my two former roommates that are married now. But enough about me, this entry is about my friend and fraternity brother Ben and his wife Carrie Beth.

I got to Columbus around 3:40 on Friday after one of the most stressful drives I've had in a while. The construction and congestion on 85 was just stupid. The only consolation I had was that I wasn't going the other way. The other side of 85 was shut down at one point because of a wreck that backed traffic up for a minimum of 8 miles (I kid you not). Anyways, once I got to Columbus I was quickly reunited with a couple of fraternity brothers and several other friends from Furman. Considering how little of a social life I have and how little I get to see FU people, these moments are very important to me. The groom stopped by soon after just before we had to get ready to go to the rehersal and rehersal dinner.

Before I get into the real details of the weekend, you have to understand that Ben's mother is unbelievable at doing the little things that put something over the top. Also, Ben's family always does everything "right" if you know what I mean. The rehearsal dinner was done at a place overlooking the Chattehoochee River. The dinner was a really nice piece of steak, steamed vegetables, and a fairly unique apple pie type thing (with cinnamon or brown sugar ice cream). Following dinner, they showed a really nice slideshow of Ben and Carrie Beth from their childhood up until now. The crazy thing was that Ben's mother had done all of it! You would have thought a professional did it.

The next day was pretty uneventful up until the wedding. Ben, me, and another fraternity brother/ex-roommate Dan and his girlfriend went out for a relaxing lunch after we picked up the tuxes. The rest of the time before the wedding was killed watching TV. Although I did get to us some of my PT education to crack a few lumbar and thoracic spines. Dan and I were ushers since the wedding party was small, and since we are chronically early...we got to the church before any of the other guys and took care of a few things. I can safely say that we didn't screw the ushering up too badly. The wedding itself was very nice (and quick). The thing I like to do at weddings is to watch the groom as the bride is walking down the isle. That's a really special moment that you should check out if you think about it at the next wedding.

From there we went to the reception which was great. It was done in a renovated mill type building with nice exposed brickwalls and new hardwood floors. I could talk about the food for a while but I'll just give you the highlights: Coca-Cola glazed ham, beef tenderloin with a horseradish sauce, risotto croquetes with a basil cream, chicken tenders, and of course...wedding cake (2 types). Man...it was delicious. The jazz band was great and catching up with a lot of friends is always nice. These nights always go way too quickly though.

Luckily, Ben's mother had planned a "Bon Voyage Brunch" for the newlyweds so a few people could see them again before they went on their honeymoon to Paris. The brunch was nice as I got to see most of my friends one more time before the weekend was over.

I couldn't be happier for Ben and Carrie Beth. I remember telling someone about CB after the first time I met her. I told them that "if Ben lets her get away, he's an idiot...she's perfect for him." I meant it too. Sometimes you just know. This was one of those times. Congrats guys!