Dr. Sour Puss

The people in the town where I work are not the brightest in the world, especially when it comes to their health. This is a source of both unending frustration and endless amusement. As an example of the former, yesterday I was awoken by the consulting nurse at 430 AM. "Your patient is calling. She says she was hit hard on the head yesterday. She had a severe headache all day and then in the afternoon she passed out and didn't wake up until just now. I told her she needed to get to the emergency room right away but she says she hates the hospital and refuses to go." "Ok, my first question, when she decided to call me, what did she expect I would do?" A much more amusing but no less tragic situation arose the other day when Mr. X, a short, extremely round middle aged man, came in to see my friend Chris. "Mr. X, I noticed my nurse forgot to get your weight, do you know how much you weigh?" "Sure, I weigh exactly 350 pounds, my weight hasn't ch...

This is the most awesome thing I've ever seen. I look forward to the day when the armies of the world have nothing better to do than bestow honors on zoo animals and parade them around.

Finally got around to figuring out how to host files. Here's 2 extremely amateurish recordings Xian and I did. I assure you, there was almost no effort put into these. Llamas in Pajamas Loopy Loop 1

I keep telling people it was the most fun I'd had in months. 9500 riders on a 2 day tour to Portland supported by the Cascade Bicycle Club . I'd never done any long rides like this before, but I've always wanted to. There is no better way to see a place than on a bike. And there are no friendlier people than a bicyclists on a tour. Matt , Greg, Fil and I did the ride over 2 days, stopping to camp in Centralia. Fil had done it last year and I when I was driving him back up and was impressed by how much fun everyone seemed to have. This year, I remember thinking about 2 hours into the ride how incredible it was and that there was no question I'd be back next year. It's too bad the photos turned out like crap. My camera died just before the ride and no one else brought one so I just got a couple disposables. $40 for about 40 crappy pictures. Awesome. Parents, please talk to your kids about Chamois Butter before it's too late. Crossing the Columbia River... (Did I m...

People, this is what it has come to: July 23, 2008 To Whom It May Concern: I am the primary care physician for Mr. X. He has a history of intracranial hemorrhage (“bleeding in the brain”). This is usually a bad thing for patients and in Mr. X's case it has resulted in permanent paralysis (“inability to move”) on the left side of his body as well as cognitive deficits (“he doesn’t remember things well or have good judgment about things”). This occurred 2 and half years ago and his status has not improved since your company began insuring Mr. X, nor is it expected to change. His previous equipment was given to him in the hospital and has deteriorated from daily use over these years and is no longer safe for him to use. In fact, he has been living in bed since your company denied my previous prescription for new equipment. As you might imagine, with a paralyzed half of the body, it is quite difficult and unsafe for someone like Mr. X to be walking around town. He would be prone to fal...

Today was a perfect day. A rare day when I finished work at 3. The sun was shining so I left early, came home, and rode my bike to the gym. On the ride home, I passed by Edith Macefield's house. She was the little old lady who captured Seattle's attention by refusing to sell out to a developer for a reported one million dollars, so she could live out her days in the house she'd lived in for 42 years. Back story here . She died two days ago, and as expected, there was a makeshift memorial in front of her place. Further down the Burke Gilman trail, I came upon this site: The Fremont Solstice parade is this weekend and the traditional belly dancer brigade was out practicing their routine. I love this town. From there, I headed to the PI where T-Dog was waiting for me with a pitcher of Maritime IPA. After a few beers, my man Greg showed up unexpectedly and kept the party going into the evening.

It was a beautiful. Looking around the lobby, I could identify with every gently aging hipster and there wasn't a single douchebag in three hundred dollar jeans anywhere in sight. The only people under the age of 35 were the children of the concert goers who were encouraged to bring their families. I was reminded, once again, why I love this town. We had bought our tickets well in advance for the actual show scheduled later that night. But the local independent radio station sent out an email a few days ago inviting donors to a special on air noon time performance at the Triple Door. So there we were among the 100 or so nursing bloody marys or sipping coffee on a Saturday morning while the band did their sound check. A few minutes later, I would be sitting comfortably 10 feet in front of one of the best American bands going right now. Most of us were older people with careers, financially stable enough to support independent music, but young enough to proudly admit to having our mi...