Excuses

So I've finally joined the world of blogging,* and I thought it best to begin by explaining myself. Afterall, such an endeavor is inherently pretentious. It assumes my ramblings are worth proffering to the world at large, which admittedly is highly questionable. It is a dubious assumption for most people at most times (which hasn't deterred said "most people," given the plentitude of blogs clogging the world wide web). In my own case I think the choice to blog is particularly alarming given the negligible amount of time I have been able to spend thinking about anything not relating to the medical field these past couple years (fortunately I have no aspirations of writing about what I have--or have not--learned about medicine). All this to say, I will begin with the disclaimer that I make no promises as to the quality of my musings. They are really mainly for my own amusement and discipline, to give me an excuse--or motivation--to exercise the other side of my cerebrum (which I'm afraid has atrophied considerably in the last two years).

This leads me to further explanation of why I now have time to write (and presumably think). Due to the significantly extenuating circumstances of my wife being in Physician Assistant School, myself being in Medical School, and Haaken, our six-month-old, demanding more attention than the approximately 35 non-contiguous minutes a day that Jess and I weren't studying, eating, sleeping, or stuck in a hospital, I've decided to take a few months off school in order to provide a small bit of sanity to all three of our lives. So, as of October 27th I'm a free man (at least for several months). My life has gone from 80 hours a week at the hospital to 168 hours a week in which I am free to do as I please (as long as Haaken does it with me). So here I am at 8:00 on a Wednesday morning** enjoying my coffee, listening to Destroyer's Rubies, and writing while the kid is sound asleep. This is not so bad . . .

*Some readers may be aware that I have had a MySpace page for sometime. However, as this is decidedly lowbrow, I have decided to move on to the real and serious blogging world of Blogger. This means that I am now trying to say things that are important, and that I take myself much more seriously. Please keep this in mind as you read further posts. Also, I couldn't take those shameless True advertisements and their 11 million sexy singles any longer.

**I am now savoring the fact that if I were on the Surgery rotation that I was scheduled to be on had I not taken a leave-of-absence, I would have been at the hospital for 4 hours already. That's half of most people's work day . . .