Archive for March, 2005
OS X Additions
March 2nd, 2005I’ve been customizing my Apple a lot lately, trying to take advantage of OS X and the fact that it has a Unix kernel. My original goal was simply to be able to process LaTeX files on my machine, and after a quick search I realized I could either go with a light-weight Mac based program or a setup that is powered by teTeX, a complete distribution of the TeX processing system.
I decided to bust out the big guns and go with teTeX. Coming from a Unix background, I was hoping to run utilities (text editors, etc.) that were as “Unix-like” as possible. After hours of searching for the slickest, most efficient solution, I settled on the following set-up:
- fink — if you enjoy Open Source software, get fink. fink is a software project that ports many Open Source packages to Mac OS X; essentially, that means they take Open Source programs and modify it so that it compiles and runs on OS X — even X11 programs. Since I wanted teTeX, I needed fink. The best part of the way fink works is that the ported programs fit seamlessly into the operating system. For example, with teTeX installed (see below), I can just type “latex myfile.tex” from a Terminal window…and it works!
- teTeX — install this once you have fink set up. It includes TeX, LaTeX, and a variety of conversion utilities (dvips, ps2pdf, etc.)
- Enhanced Carbon Emacs — an old friend! No system is complete without emacs, and this version for OS X is even better since it comes in with a very easy-to-use LaTeX editing environment (that depends on teTeX). Also, Enhanced Carbon Emacs doesn’t require X11 — thus no need for fink — so if you’re craving emacs on your Mac, just download and use immediately! If you use emacs, get it from here now.
These programs have worked great so far. This adventure has also made me eager to find more useful and cool additions to my Mac, so once I find more I’ll post.
Back From the Dead
March 3rd, 2005I know…it’s been months since I last posted. But what better a way to return from the “dead” than to describe my sobering morning at the coroner.
As part of another ICM focus experience, we had the opportunity to visit the LA County Coroner’s Office and watch the coroners there perform one or more autopsies.
All of us met in the lobby and were taken down to the basement of the building, where we were fitted with masks, gowns, booties, and gloves. As they led us into the hallway with the autopsy rooms, I was mentally preparing myself for my first ever encounter with a dead body (ones that weren’t embalmed, as in gross anatomy) — but little did I realize that once I walked through those double doors, bodies were strewn about the hallway worse than an overcrowded ER. And the first bodies I caught a gruesome glimpse of were not what I was prepared to see.
One woman clearly had had her autopsy already and was crudely sewn back up with some rope that looked like it was bought from a hardware store. The next one was an emaciated man with his knees bent up to his chest and a ghastly look on his face. And I couldn’t even tell whether the last body was of a man or woman since it had been so badly burned. It was a scene directly out of a gory hollywood movie, with so many mangled bodies and their cold blue flesh and eyes permanently closed. I almost felt that they’d soon get up and start moaning and limping around, kinda like the movie Shawn of the Dead. (I guess I should commend hollywood make-up directors for their ability to make the living look dead.)
We rounded a corner, and at this point our group — 3 guys and 3 girls — was just 3 guys now, as all the girls were too shocked to make it past the first few steps into the hallway. So we went and helped them along.
Once we were inside the autopsy room, a room where five autopsies were being carried out. An uninterested pathologist with no emotion on his face at all led us to the table we’d be at, and he started gave us a brief history on this middle aged black women he was about to do an autopsy on. He started and for the next 10 minutes slashed into the woman’s chest with the classic “inverted Y” strokes, and he began digging in and throwing around her organs like it was a chop shop. This was far from careful, precise surgery. There was no fine dissection here, just big circular saws cutting through peoples’ skulls. In the end what was left was just a hollowed out cage of a body with half a head.
After about 2 hours the smell was getting to me, and so I left. It wasn’t exactly a sight I wanted to see, but I did appreciate the opportunity to learn that I never want to be a pathologist. And after visiting the gift shop (!)…I did end the day with a LA County Coroner’s t-shirt!
Enough Ashley Smith Already, and a Prediction
March 13th, 2005Is anyone other than me sick of Ashley Smith?
Anyone watching any news show lately, especially CNN, can attest to the obsesssion of news stations with Ashley Smith, the woman taken hostage by the Atlanta courthouse killer. In her initial “interviews” she sits in front of a camera and spends an hour describing every detail of the few hours she was in contact with the murder suspect. While I I sympathize with her ordeal — I know I would have been shitting bricks had I ran into that brutal killer at my home — she is getting excessive recognition, as a hero, too.
Furthermore, I still am amazed at how sensationalistic news stations are…again, especially CNN. I had the misfortune of having the TV in front of me at the treadmill at the gym be tuned to CNN, which featured a show called “Ashley Smith: the story of a hero” (or maybe something similar). In what could have been a straightforward overview of the events of that day, CNN devoted an hour to detailing, minute by minute, what took place, in an over-exaggerated and over-dramatic way (just like the LA evening news). 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, etc.
It’s a shame, because CNN used to be a respectable news source.
Anyway, here’s the prediction I promised. Several times, Smith alluded to a book called “The Purpose Driven Life” and the role it played in her encounter with the murder suspect. I guaranted you that sales of this book will skyrocket as a result of its newfound media attention. I just checked amazon, and its Amazon Sales Rank is #5 (pretty freakin high already for what sounds like another useless spiritual self-help book, don’t you think?). Let’s see where this attention gets the book.
Why am I such a hater? I don’t know.
Paco’s Tacos
March 18th, 20054141 S Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 391-9616
Hungry? This is the place for you, but be ready for a long wait. Luckily the restaurant provides good chips and salsa in the lobby area, and drinks can be ordered from waiters that stop by. Even better, the drinks are added to your meal check, so you don’t have to worry about dealing with a separate bar tab. The margaritas are tasty, and use no sour mix. The mango margarita is good, but sweet. The salsa is spicy and smooth.
The entrees we had weren’t really anything special, athough that could be because we were so full of chips and salsa that we couldn’t enjoy them. The carne asada steak was of good quality and cooked well, but not extremely flavorful. The enchilada and taco platter was actually very good. The taco shell was fresh, though…which reminds me…by far the best part of the dinner was the fresh, warm flour tortillas brought with our meal. If you’ve never eaten fresh tortillas, do yourself a favor and visit Paco’s.
Don’t get me wrong — we’ll definitely be going back there. I think the dinner could have been enjoyed more as long as we don’t eat three buckets of chips while waiting for our table!
Mac Backup
March 22nd, 2005
First…I’ve had a 120G Western Digital hard drive sitting in my room for more than a year now. This hard drive was only $60…actually, it would have been $60 after an $80 mail-in rebate, but unfortunately I never mailed it in, so now I own a $120 hard drive that’s still sitting in its box.
Next…as of the past few months I’ve been using my Mac iBook almost exclusively (so much so that I took down my FreeBSD machine and put it in storage) because it’s pretty much the perfect operating system.
But now I worry about losing data. I’m working on a few important projects on this laptop, and if I were to lose the laptop (or have it stolen), that would be the end of my project since that data isn’t backed up anywhere else.
So I gots me an external hard drive enclosure, the AMS Venus DS3, which I bought from Newegg.com. It installed in no time and connects via Firewire. This is my first Firewire device, and it’s pretty damn fast. Now I just copy my important files to the hard drive every few days, although it’d be nice if a program existed that would automatically back up the files and directories that I wanted. I should look around.
That’s it. I highly recommend one of these (or an external hard drive) to anyone with a laptop.
Entrecote Steak
March 26th, 2005I was trying to think of a meal to make at home, since I’ve been eating out so much lately, when I remembered the steaks I ate almost daily while in Paris a few years ago (at the brasseries). After a brief search on the web, I found a recipe that sounded pretty similar to what I remember. It’s quick to prepare and tastes pretty good.
- 2 sirloins (6-8 oz)
- Salt and pepper
- 6Tbsp unsalted butter — softened
- 2tsp parsley — minced
- 2 shallots — minced
- Sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt and pepper. Grill over a hot fire. While it is cooking, mix–over very low fire in a small pan, with a fork — the butter with the chopped herbs and shallot until creamy.
- Just before serving, place half the butter on two hot serving plates.
Place the cooked steaks on top and the rest of the butter on the top of the steaks. - Serve very hot (if you want it super authentic, serve with fresh fries)
Let the Boards Begin
March 29th, 2005Medical school is finally over.
Sort of. The first two years — the “pre-clinical years” — are now essentially over (except for one final cumulative exam, which is no reason to worry).
And now that our Skin test is over, which in reality was more of a microbiology test, it’s time to focus exclusively on studying for the boards (USMLE step 1). Not quite exclusively actually…we still have Integrated Cases for 4 hours/day for 3 days of the week, ICM on Thursday mornings still, and a full day of review sessions on Friday. Add to that several absurd ICM workshops on “Ethics” (haven’t we had this topic shoved down our throats for the past 2 years already?) and mandatory Basic Life Support training (aka CPR), and I think it’s safe to say that the school is trying to make sure we don’t have any time to study.
Anyway…12 weeks until the boards.