That would be great, Jess, except I probably wouldn't have time for the camping, if that was going on, and this weekend is right out as a possibility for me. Otherwise, I'm in.

On Sunday, I was contemplating taking a day trip to somewhere with a lake that I can bring my dog to. Would anyone be interested in accompanying me? I could also be convinced that leaving Saturday late afternoon and camping is a great idea. Anyone have any suggestions for close-by lakes?

This one's been in my head for the past, oh, week and a half:

Okay Tone just like I promised, here is the song that kept running in my head when ever we heard the crossing boxes in Croatia.

Go here

Kind of explotive and such but a guilty pleasure none the less.

Well Par I tried to think of something more meaningful to say but I can't. I'm in another profession and living another type of life much different then yours. You've seen and done things that many of us here will never do. Therefore you should act in what you think is right.

Not a very good response but this is probally the best you can get from me.

On a more serious note, I also just got off of my call weekend (Friday-Sunday) on general surgery. It's basically like not having a weekend at all, and it pretty much sealed the deal, I think, on my not having a future as a surgery resident. Although I find the stuff interesting, there's no way I like it enough to work this hard for five years. It's just not happening.

But moreso, this weekend (or at least, reflecting on this weekend) was a reminder to myself to be more mindful of how I deal with some of the things I see.

General surgery at the Royal Alex is basically the first call for a trauma consult. If someone comes in with multi-system or non-system-specific traumas, they get admitted under general surgery. This, of course, means you see a lot of the aftermath of some very violent situations. In Edmonton, unfortunately, this usually means stabbings. And because it's Edmonton, they happen all too frequently.

Considering the number I saw this weekend, I imagine that the residents on general surgery see their fair share of these cases. With that volume, there just can't be any way you can deal with it without treating these events as "work" rather than what they are - traumatic events in real people's lives. You just couldn't function if you tried to conceptualize the real impact of these events. Being the always-learning medical student, it's easy to pick that up. Far too easy, I found, looking back at the weekend.

And so not only do I come to another reason I don't think I could do surgery -- I don't want to be someone who normalizes or needs to normalize that kind of event -- but I find I need the reminder now; I shouldn't be treating these things lightly.

I realize this is more serious than I usually am here, but I trust the people around me can help me out a little with this. Especially if I continue using terms like "Edmonton handshake", a gentle reminder about the way I should be treating these events would be much appreciated.

So I just got around to watching this show I downloaded on a whim last week: The Middleman. I have no idea why it's on ABC Family, so don't ask.

I do know it's based on a comic book, which someone will probably tell me that I should read instead of watching the TV show, but this is easier, and I'm a lazy-ass.

This is a really fun show. It has that quick, snappy, sarcastic dialogue that I really liked from Pushing Daisies, and it's basically a parody-homage to superhero comic books. It's at least worth a taste. And the second episode is on tonight.

Not sure I'm behind the whole "Blob" plan. From an admittedly selfish perspective, it just makes my job that much more difficult.

Yeah I should really jump on that fat bandwagon, just weighted myself and found out I lost 10 pounds on my vacation! That would explain the comments I was getting for my abs...

Yeah, the fat thing is working really great for me actually; I just got a raise! I would recommend it to anyone.

Also, I may have been wrong about the "absorbing bullets" ability, unless you count absorbing it with your left kidney...

But yeah, Al, you've got the right idea:

If we can't be unstoppable cannons, we may as well resolve to being immovable objects.