How to save the world by making people furious...

How can we...

lower our national debt?
fight global warming?
lessen our dependence on foreign oil?
decrease the amount of traffic?
trim our nation's waistlines?
help people make friends with strangers?
create thriving downtowns in our cities?
slow urban sprawl?

Raise gas prices!

By increasing gas taxes, we could raise money to either eliminate vehicle registration fees, pay off our debts, etc. People would drive less, which would decrease oil consumption and emissions. People would walk/bike more, bettering their health. People would carpool and use public transportation more, helping our individualistic nation become more communal. Cities would become even more popular with housing that is next to work/dining/shopping/entertainment/etc. European cities have such charm, not only because they are so old, but because people actually work, live, eat, and relax there. Fewer people would be rushing into newly developed suburbs in order to have their personal 1/2 acre of grass they have to water to keep alive.

It bugs me so much when people complain about the gas prices, when they are very low compared to the rest of the world. Even though I have 2 high performance cars that run on high octane gas, when the prices go up, I am secretly happy inside. I don't have much of a commute now, but I'm sure I'd feel the same if I did.

Now I know this isn't going to happen. Too many people are nearsighted and don't see the benefits of higher gas prices or gas taxes. No officials have the balls to commit political suicide and implement these taxes now. But I just had to write this, and hope people start thinking and talking it up.

I know this is something that has to happen gradually, or else we would destroy certain industries.

Please leave comments.

del.icio.us links

I added some coolio links I've found over the past few months. They're down over there ---->. The internet is freakin' amazing. Or maybe I should say people are freakin' amazing! Through this thing called the internet we can benefit from the creative talent of millions. Check out the design blogs like TheCoolHunter and Electro^plankton. Comment to this post if any of these links blew your mind.

Next Year

So the Air Force has given me orders for my assignment next year: Osan Air Base, South Korea. I'm excited about this trip for many reasons.
1. It's only a year. I'm pretty sure I'll like it, but even if I don't, I'm there for only a year, and then I can either do residency or continue as a flight surgeon.
2. I get an assignment preferece for the following year. Since Korea is/was an
"undesirable" remote assignment, the Air Force lets you choose your next assignment: residency, Hawawii, Europe, California, etc.
3. It's near Seoul, a BIG hoppin' metropolis. I'm excited to get out of Dayton and getting someplace with more young people, style, events, etc.
4. It's in Asia. I love Asian people and food. And I'll easily be able to visit Japan. Singapore, Thailand, and New Zealand will also be close.
5. F-16s are assigned there; that means I'll have an extremely good chance to fly some in this sweet fighter jet.
But here's the kicker. The Air Force just notified me 2 days ago that they assigned too many flight surgeons to Osan, and so now either me or some other dude have to be reassigned!!! The only spots left are Guam (a desolate tropical island) and Misawa (on the Northern tip of Japan). Both I REALLY don't want to spend 2 years at. So please pray for me, that I won't get reassigned.

Eating Live Octopus in Korea

So I'm moving to South Korea on July 7th. I'll be near Seoul. You'll have one year to visit me there, or if you want, we can meet up in Japan.

January

I hate writing. So excuse my delay in entries into this blog. So January was a good month. Spent my first in Whistler with my brothers and some of my best friends. We stayed right in Whistler Village and got 2 feet of snow while we were there. I love Whistler, and I've told people before, I think it's my favorite place on earth. Year round beauty and fun.
Next I went to Loma Linda for an anesthesia elective for 3 weeks. Again, awesome time: good friends, good weather, and working in anesthesia, which I love. Even though it took Step 3 while there, and studied a lot for it (because I may have to reapply for the residency match at a later date), I enjoyed my time.

I love...

My family, my friends, snowboarding in powder, experiencing other cultures, my car and other rally cars, my truck and other sport trucks, ecosystems and trying to create them at home particularily in aquariums, lots of music (emotional, international, beat driven, chill...), Jesus, Young Life, going down with a mountain bike (not necessarily going up), Whistler, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, other places bordering or in the Pacific Ocean that I have yet to go to, Chipotle, Panera, kids with disabilities, kids in Africa, speeding, anesthesiology, fighter jets, foreign foods (especially tacos, sushi, pho, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Indian...), stout such as Guiness, hot sake, "extreme" sports, guitar, pianists, cooks, abstract landscape paintings, summers in the Northwest, surfing, discovering new music, coffee, chocolate, peppercorn steak, Dr Pepper, having a garage, my children that I sponsor, missionaries, praying with patients, my photo album screen saver, my churches (Mars Hill, Sandals, Apex), sunny and a dry 75 degrees with a slight breeze, Forest Gump, cutting edge technology, thunderstorms, Cajun food, loud trance, rock concerts, Quiksilver clothes, wood, big trees, water, Candy with a capital C...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I just enjoyed Christmas day with my aunt and grandparents here in Ohio. I got a big phat 80 gig iPod for Christmas from my parents (THANK YOU!). I went from no iPod for all my life, to the big kahuna. I have only converted about 20 gigs of my music to mp3s, and I'm about 1/4th of the way through, so potentially this can hold my hold collection. Amazing.

I'm in a busy month of inpatient medicine. Haven't been doing much except working, caring for my fish, watching Lost, and being involved with my church. The Air Force put me as an alternate for getting anesthesiology training, so in the next month, maybe I'll be allowed to continue with residency at Loma Linda. But I thinking most likely it won't happen. So then, I'll be moving who knows where in July.

Another Military Match

I'm going through the military match again. I'm applying for anesthesiology starting July 2007, so I would lose no time in starting residency. Results are released December 13th.
I also submited my "dream sheet", or base preference worksheet. It's my ranking of Air Force bases of where I would like to be assigned if I don't continue on with anesthesia. Top of my list were overseas assignments including Korea (the only one year assignment), Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Germany, and England. Then I ranked West Coast bases.

My sorta new car

Here's the car I bought on Ebay back in April. Overall I am satisfied with it. I absolutely love the car, but it has been high maintenance. Sounds like a girlfriend. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII comes very heavily enhanced from the dealer, but I bought used with several additional modifications and a few I added myself. 2003 model with about 35,000 miles now.

MOD LIST
HKS 2.75" downpipe
High Flow Cat
Custom 3" cat back exhaust
Resonator
Magnaflow muffler
272 HKS Cams
Unorthodox Cam Gears
Halbro Fuel Pump
Manual Boost Controller
Blow off valve
Drop in K&N hiflow air filter
ACT Heavy Duty Clutch
XACT Prolight Flywheel
Espilier Lowering Springs
Cart Boy Short Shifter
Carbon Fiber Dash
CF Exhaust Heat Shield
Sparco Steering Wheel
Sparco Pedal Set
Super AFC II EMS
Greddy Turbo Timer
JDM Evo 7 Taillight decals
Window tint
Panasonic CD Deck
iPod adapter

I need to get it retuned.
Next will be a new set of rims and tires specifically for racing. And I probably should get an intercooler set up. And maybe some fuel injectors. Oh, a bigger turbo would be sweet...

ICU

P! Soooo, I just finished my ICU rotation. Busy, working 80 hours per week. Good learning experience. With ventilator and cardiovascular management, it will apply more for anesthesia than most of my other rotations.

Most interesting case of the month was probaby a 35 year old woman with 2 kids that came in with shortness of breath. She ended up needing intubation for acute respiratory distress syndrome. We never found the inciting factor, maybe a virus since she had a viral illness the week before. And she never recovered. She was flown to Cleavland Clinic on the ventilator to see if they could figure out what was up. Mostly likely she had an abnormal response to a usual virus. But it makes you think. What if it was a superpathogenic virus, like avian flu. We didn't take any special precautions to prevent spread. I could've died. And this young mom was suddenly taken over by a mysterious illness. There is so much we still don't know.

I've just started my new rotation doing inpatient medicine, and I'm waiting for my attending to come in so we can round on the patients. I got here too early I guess. This will be another busy month, with overnight call every fourth night. These calls make your work hours add up quick. With 2 calls in one week, there's 60 hours of work! And this call is busy. I've been averaging about 2-3 hours of sleep for each call, and I'm lucky. I consider myself a white cloud, because some of the other black cloud interns are getting hit hard. I wish they had a night float system. But it's all good. I'm enjoying this more than medical school. At least more than 3rd year of medical school. 1st and 2nd year were nice with very flexible hours. 4th year had 8 or so weeks of vacation. But being the doctor now making descisions, it's pretty exhilirating. All said, I can't wait to move on to anesthesiology!