I have a Kifaru Express (37.6 L), use it mostly for vacationing, short hops, domestic travel. Never denied as a carry-on except on smaller planes, e.g. 1 seat left row, 2 seats right row planes. I'm knocking around Italy for 3 wks in April and am probably going to take just this pack + a couple neat "dock'n'lock" pods the company sells. They click right into existing tabs and loops on the pack's body. I'm planning on 2 standard long pockets and an E&E pouch piggybacked on the back. Those 3 pods increase my volume to 74 L.
Good: Very well-crafted pack, with thick 1000 Denier Cordura throughout. Plenty of (too many?) compression straps throughout. Top and bottom circumferential zips for access. Bladder pouch. Subdued appearance that doesn't shout "tourist." 100% made in the USA (for us yanks)
Bad: Expensive ($293 pack, $44-100 assorted pods). Slow delivery/manufacture time (6-8 wks quoted). No hook to hang the bladder from (??) though new G2 version rectifies this. Subdued appearance which sort of shouts "military"...available specialty colors like multicam, digital ACU really can get you noticed by militia-types.
10 December 2008
10 November 2008
The Ground Is Crying
Today the mercury topped out at 42F. Coming off the tail end of a streak of days in the teens, the weather was positively tropical. You know that "smell of spring" that wafts through the house when you open the windows on a day like today? It's sort of indescribable, but I'm going to try my best anyways....
I smell water. But not standing water, or even running water. It's the smell of water that has life in it: dew on freshly unfrozen grass, dirt that's halfway between dry and mud, bugs in the ground frozen, but now thawed. Did you know that's actually a scientific fact? A part of that wonderful fresh spring air is bacteria in the soil released by the thaw. Mmmmm....
I feel sorry for people who life in climates where there are no seasons. That's rich, right? Who would ever feel sorry for someone who gets to live in San Diego? Me, that's who. Have you ever walked into a hospital room where someone has just put a fresh coat of vomit on the floor? No? Oh, well I will help you out and just say after a few minutes you get used to even that. Clearly, my point is that San Diego is like a hospital room with a vomiting patient in it.
I smell water. But not standing water, or even running water. It's the smell of water that has life in it: dew on freshly unfrozen grass, dirt that's halfway between dry and mud, bugs in the ground frozen, but now thawed. Did you know that's actually a scientific fact? A part of that wonderful fresh spring air is bacteria in the soil released by the thaw. Mmmmm....
I feel sorry for people who life in climates where there are no seasons. That's rich, right? Who would ever feel sorry for someone who gets to live in San Diego? Me, that's who. Have you ever walked into a hospital room where someone has just put a fresh coat of vomit on the floor? No? Oh, well I will help you out and just say after a few minutes you get used to even that. Clearly, my point is that San Diego is like a hospital room with a vomiting patient in it.
17 August 2008
Long Way Down
Flatness For Reals (FFR)
A new day and a new post.
Today, I'm in Killeen, TX on Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the US, perhaps the world. I don't know if that fun fact is current. I've been here about a week working in the ER of Darnall Army Medical Center. Three more to go and then I move 3 hrs south to San Antonio for another month of baking. Actually, steaming is a better adjective. Surprisingly, it's been cool for the past couple days, in the low 80s during the day. But I'm sure it won't last.
Things I want to do or keep doing: 1) Advance daily pushups (45) and crunches (50) by 5 every 3 days. 2) Decide where to do my international rotation and start paperwork. 3) Start/finish ERAS and personal statement. 4) Think about starting a video journal archive. 5) Begin planning for the Long Way Down (lite).....
Long Way Down (lite)
LWDL actually was the end result of a little idea that drank the potion and ballooned into a certified adventure.....
My brother Ben and I were kickin it one day, thinking of things to do next spring after I had graduated from med school and he had finished his junior year of college. At the time, I was home in Chicago for 3 weeks, an unusually long time given the spats of moving I've done for school over the last 3 years. Alas, I was doomed to squander most of my "vacation" studying for board exams, damn them to hell.
Every day I headed to the public library, claimed my real estate and q-banked it up for a disgusting number of hours. I'd look out the floor to ceiling windows and see citizens jogging, moms pushing their strollers over sun-drenched sidewalks, motorcycle cops chug-chugging along on their gleaming mounts. I stopped sitting by the windows.
During one of my many coffee breaks, I stood on the 3rd floor watching the house league soccer teams practicing on the other side of the stream. I went from looking at swarms of kiddies encircling the ball from here to there, to swarms of dragonflies above that stream, to a trio of ducks paddling down the stream, to paddling, paddle boats, boats that paddle, stream boat paddle, iwonderwherethatstreamgoes---
To be honest, I had probably seen that stream thousands of times in my 23 years of living in my hometown. I may have wondered to myself a handful of times, "Self, aren't you curious about where that stream goes after it disappears from your vision underneath the boughs of those trees lining the banks? Don't you want to follow it....no, don't walk thru the window off the 3rd floor, take the stairs."
So I started googling, wikipedia-ing, and mapquesting to learn about this stream. I knew it was a part of the North Branch of the Chicago River, hence the town's name: Northbrook. From there, I was in uncharted territory, heh. Could someone float into the main River? Could you float the downtown? Into the Lake?
And that's when the train left the station. My Rand McNally brain lifted towards the heavens and expanded my view beyond the Chicagoland area. Could you go the other way?
Like any good Chicagoan, I knew that Lake Michigan flowed into the Chicago River, instead of the other way around. Seems odd, right? You can read about how the geniuses at the turn of the century figured out how to reverse the flow of the River in what the American Society of Civil Engineers called "The Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium." Moving on...
With eyes turned west now, I stumbled upon a genuine adventure that was closer than I imagined.
The Mississippi River is the 2nd longest river in the US, part of the largest river system in North America, and the 4th longest in the world behind the Nile, Amazon, and Yangtze. It's name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). It floated the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Jean-Baptist Point Du Sable, and Mark Twain. I wanted to float Old Man River down to the Gulf. But when?
To be continued....
A new day and a new post.
Today, I'm in Killeen, TX on Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the US, perhaps the world. I don't know if that fun fact is current. I've been here about a week working in the ER of Darnall Army Medical Center. Three more to go and then I move 3 hrs south to San Antonio for another month of baking. Actually, steaming is a better adjective. Surprisingly, it's been cool for the past couple days, in the low 80s during the day. But I'm sure it won't last.
Things I want to do or keep doing: 1) Advance daily pushups (45) and crunches (50) by 5 every 3 days. 2) Decide where to do my international rotation and start paperwork. 3) Start/finish ERAS and personal statement. 4) Think about starting a video journal archive. 5) Begin planning for the Long Way Down (lite).....
Long Way Down (lite)
LWDL actually was the end result of a little idea that drank the potion and ballooned into a certified adventure.....
My brother Ben and I were kickin it one day, thinking of things to do next spring after I had graduated from med school and he had finished his junior year of college. At the time, I was home in Chicago for 3 weeks, an unusually long time given the spats of moving I've done for school over the last 3 years. Alas, I was doomed to squander most of my "vacation" studying for board exams, damn them to hell.
Every day I headed to the public library, claimed my real estate and q-banked it up for a disgusting number of hours. I'd look out the floor to ceiling windows and see citizens jogging, moms pushing their strollers over sun-drenched sidewalks, motorcycle cops chug-chugging along on their gleaming mounts. I stopped sitting by the windows.
During one of my many coffee breaks, I stood on the 3rd floor watching the house league soccer teams practicing on the other side of the stream. I went from looking at swarms of kiddies encircling the ball from here to there, to swarms of dragonflies above that stream, to a trio of ducks paddling down the stream, to paddling, paddle boats, boats that paddle, stream boat paddle, iwonderwherethatstreamgoes---
To be honest, I had probably seen that stream thousands of times in my 23 years of living in my hometown. I may have wondered to myself a handful of times, "Self, aren't you curious about where that stream goes after it disappears from your vision underneath the boughs of those trees lining the banks? Don't you want to follow it....no, don't walk thru the window off the 3rd floor, take the stairs."
So I started googling, wikipedia-ing, and mapquesting to learn about this stream. I knew it was a part of the North Branch of the Chicago River, hence the town's name: Northbrook. From there, I was in uncharted territory, heh. Could someone float into the main River? Could you float the downtown? Into the Lake?
And that's when the train left the station. My Rand McNally brain lifted towards the heavens and expanded my view beyond the Chicagoland area. Could you go the other way?
Like any good Chicagoan, I knew that Lake Michigan flowed into the Chicago River, instead of the other way around. Seems odd, right? You can read about how the geniuses at the turn of the century figured out how to reverse the flow of the River in what the American Society of Civil Engineers called "The Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium." Moving on...
With eyes turned west now, I stumbled upon a genuine adventure that was closer than I imagined.
The Mississippi River is the 2nd longest river in the US, part of the largest river system in North America, and the 4th longest in the world behind the Nile, Amazon, and Yangtze. It's name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). It floated the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Jean-Baptist Point Du Sable, and Mark Twain. I wanted to float Old Man River down to the Gulf. But when?
To be continued....
23 April 2008
Running Girl
Upcoming Travel
I'm heading back to my stomping grounds this week. That's right: Kirksville, MO. Actually, I never did any stomping there. Maybe just once or twice in a fit of fury at some thing or another. They're really more like studying grounds, or wasting-time grounds. Oh, actually "proving grounds" sounds good. And, it's appropriate. I've always liked that term. It sounds official and all-business, a purpose-built moniker.
This trip should bring back a lot of memories, too. I had a lot of good times in that town and not too many bad ones. The thing that makes me wistful is that two of the people I shared the most time with won't be there: one, I'll have just missed by a day; another, I've missed for much longer.
In local news....
Dear Running Girl in my Apartment Complex,
The weather was fantastic today. I got home from work way before sunset so I knew I could get a good run in.....which meant there was a chance today would be the day you and I were out running at the same time. Unfortunately, like all the other times, you decided to start your run after me. Is it just coincidence? Or do you do it on purpose? Do you do it so that I can watch you glide effortlessly from window edge to window edge as you loop-de-loop around our subdivison? You were wearing a white tank and red shorts today and looked great. Then again, the closest I've seen you is at about 50 yards so I guess I shouldn't make assumptions.
Until next time Mysterious Running Girl.....
Spring Flings....er, Weddings
Two of my dear friends from high school are getting married not a month apart from each other...and not a month from now! The gravity of that struck me today...briefly. I have not given much thought to getting married soon myself. I feel like I have enough on my plate now with finishing medical school and getting the residency I want. How do these maniacs handle wedding plans on top of that? Hats off to them....or their wedding planners....or their moms, more than likely.
Me? I'm getting the training I want, in a place I like waking up in every morning, working with people I look forward to seeing every day (or night). I'm going to have some fun in the Army, see some bad shit, see some good stuff, heal the people. I'm going to travel to all the places I've only seen on TV, set up my parents for life, see that my brother makes it to where he's going. Now there's probably a chick in there somewhere, but I'm not stressing out too much.....
I'm heading back to my stomping grounds this week. That's right: Kirksville, MO. Actually, I never did any stomping there. Maybe just once or twice in a fit of fury at some thing or another. They're really more like studying grounds, or wasting-time grounds. Oh, actually "proving grounds" sounds good. And, it's appropriate. I've always liked that term. It sounds official and all-business, a purpose-built moniker.
This trip should bring back a lot of memories, too. I had a lot of good times in that town and not too many bad ones. The thing that makes me wistful is that two of the people I shared the most time with won't be there: one, I'll have just missed by a day; another, I've missed for much longer.
In local news....
Dear Running Girl in my Apartment Complex,
The weather was fantastic today. I got home from work way before sunset so I knew I could get a good run in.....which meant there was a chance today would be the day you and I were out running at the same time. Unfortunately, like all the other times, you decided to start your run after me. Is it just coincidence? Or do you do it on purpose? Do you do it so that I can watch you glide effortlessly from window edge to window edge as you loop-de-loop around our subdivison? You were wearing a white tank and red shorts today and looked great. Then again, the closest I've seen you is at about 50 yards so I guess I shouldn't make assumptions.
Until next time Mysterious Running Girl.....
Spring Flings....er, Weddings
Two of my dear friends from high school are getting married not a month apart from each other...and not a month from now! The gravity of that struck me today...briefly. I have not given much thought to getting married soon myself. I feel like I have enough on my plate now with finishing medical school and getting the residency I want. How do these maniacs handle wedding plans on top of that? Hats off to them....or their wedding planners....or their moms, more than likely.
Me? I'm getting the training I want, in a place I like waking up in every morning, working with people I look forward to seeing every day (or night). I'm going to have some fun in the Army, see some bad shit, see some good stuff, heal the people. I'm going to travel to all the places I've only seen on TV, set up my parents for life, see that my brother makes it to where he's going. Now there's probably a chick in there somewhere, but I'm not stressing out too much.....
03 April 2008
A Promise to Future Medical Students
Let this be a public testament;
When I have the opportunity to train medical students as an intern, resident, or attending, I will always be mindful of their schedules.
I will release them as early as possible when there are no foreseeable education opportunities.
I will do my best to ask them about their school's curriculum and probe their existing fund of medical knowledge to teach them better.
I will not keep them around to chit chat when they could be reading or sleeping.
I will learn their names and use them.
I will try to refrain from using the "Look it up" line because an explanation or demonstration always worked better for me than a text chapter.
I will be patient.
I will offer advice if asked for it.
I will not ridicule.
I will not yell.
I will not speak behind someone's back unless I'm also willing to speak to their face.
I will be the student's advocate.
When I am frustrated with a student, I will remind myself of what it was like to be a student.
When I have the opportunity to train medical students as an intern, resident, or attending, I will always be mindful of their schedules.
I will release them as early as possible when there are no foreseeable education opportunities.
I will do my best to ask them about their school's curriculum and probe their existing fund of medical knowledge to teach them better.
I will not keep them around to chit chat when they could be reading or sleeping.
I will learn their names and use them.
I will try to refrain from using the "Look it up" line because an explanation or demonstration always worked better for me than a text chapter.
I will be patient.
I will offer advice if asked for it.
I will not ridicule.
I will not yell.
I will not speak behind someone's back unless I'm also willing to speak to their face.
I will be the student's advocate.
When I am frustrated with a student, I will remind myself of what it was like to be a student.
26 March 2008
Ob/Gyn Week 1 Lessons Learned
Girls are to guys as water-cooled engines are to air-cooled engines. With the additional functions and greater range of operating temperatures of a water-cooled system, comes a more complex mechanism with a greater number of potential failure points. Things leak, overheat, explode. They occasionally eject products or fluids. They require more tubing and manipulation to operate properly.
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