Trends in Names

Always have thought it's interesting to see how some names are trendy at certain times and then fall out of fashion. For example, my grandfather's name is Floyd. Bet you won't see many baby boys out there named Floyd. Its time has passed. Well, this website graphically displays the trends int names since 1880. Interesting. I like plugging in "mom names" and "dad names" like Carol or Janet or Susan or Tom or Roger, and seeing them trend in and out of favor.

Enjoy!... Name Website

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Lookalike??...

| View | Add Favorite

Sixteen Days From Now...

...is my 30th birthday.

In celebration, I am going to be in Texas for a week starting the weekend of the 25-27th.

That weekend, namely Saturday, Aug 26th, I am hosting any friends who might be in the area (by area I mean Texas) at a lake house at Cedar Creek Lake south of Dallas, for food, lake fun, hanging out.

Since i don't have many of your updated email lists, consider this as your friendly personal invitation. And I know it may be late notice for all you planners out there. But if you can make it out, I think it would be fun to have a reunion of sorts as best we can.

I am inviting any friends, especially those in Texas or Oklahoma who I haven't seen in quite some time. So all you ACU folks, bring your spouses and kids if you please.

But please let me know if you're interested in making the trek. It is about one hour south of Dallas near Trinidad, TX. I'll provide food and drink....

...but please email me or comment here if you are interested. I would love to see my old friends, and by old, i mean those of us who are 30 or near thirty.

I'll send you details when you respond.....

If none of you want to do this....that's fine....i'll be there anyway enjoying myself...but it would be cool to have you there too. If the 26th is not good, I'll be there all weekend anyway if you are looking for a getaway and wanna hang out.

Let me know. I'd love to see you.

Sincerely,
Sam

Bad Video

One Year

I uprooted my life one year ago today.

...choreography by Blair

Evolution of Dance

Sweet Sweet and Sugar Free

I drink lotsa diet drinks. In fact, I would say that I can count on one hand the number of regular, sugar sodas I have drunk in the last year. But my consumption of sugar substitutes, through diet drinks and sweetener for my coffee, is generous and, for me, guilt-free. Guiltless because I can trust the FDA in this case, approving these foods to be consumed. While there will probably be some surprise down the road when I am aged and stiff in the joints that something once though innocuous, like the type of fabric softener I use, will cause me to die of cancer, I am choosing to believe that most protective agencies like the FDA are striving for the greater good--and not overly influenced by economics or power.

All that to say...I've included a link below that should assuage any of your fears about Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, or any of the other sweeteners, being linked to cancer. I'll continue to guiltlessly chug my daily aspartame flavored drinks...

aspartame

Easter is for pictures!...and Jesus...(sorry)

David Caire and Peter Caire in their Easter sport coats:


A dashing Caden Caire:


The dear eyes of Emery Anne Caire:


Bubba and Thithter:


and the newest, beautiful Anna Elizabeth Caire:

My Vacation to Arizona

So I went on vacation to Arizona last week, where the skies are cloudless and the roads very flat. Spent time with my friend Brian who lives there. Then friends Jerry and Ali joined us for the weekend.

Me, Brian, Jerry


Jerry, Brian, me, and Ali


For the ladies...


Attempting to tweeze the largest hangnail witnessed by humans:


My evil left eye can see right to your heart...be convicted!


Had a great time...the first vacation time where I actually went on a vacation in a long while. Thanks to B, J, and A for being tremendous, supportive friends and for being fun travel companions.

And...one to grow on:

...and the next day

Went to the game...PERFECT weather for a day game...sat in the sunny section by the right field line...the sun was to our left the whole time...

...so today I have a slight sunburn on the left half of my face.



also, fans, I'll be headed to Phoenix tonight for a vacation. Visiting Bruss, an old pal from OKC and LifeChurch...I'll also be playing guitar for the new LifeChurch campus there in Phoenix on Wed and on the weekend...so welcome back to the fold to me.

...more later...here's to spring!!

Opening day 2006

Today is opening day of baseball...one of my favorite, nostalgic days of the year. I have been a baseball fan since I was a kid, and this day was always so much fun for me. Especially when we first got cable television when I was in 8th grade, and I could watch WGN and TBS and ESPN. So much baseball on TV!

Now I live in a city with a major league team for the first time, and I'm going to opening day at the ballpark for the first time.

...AND THEN...the national championship game of the NCAA tournament!!...What a day!!...I think I'm gonna pick Florida this year.

This guy was just let out of his glass case of emotion...

Women and Brad Pitt

I have a link at the sidebar on my blog to Bill Simmons of ESPN.com Page 2. He is a sports writer, but also mixes in a lot of pop culture. Very funny writer. If you are a big sports fan like me, you'll love his column. And, ladies, if your husband is a sports lover, then he will appreciate this man's column.

Here is the excerpt...


"I was enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon at the gym when I realized March Madness was on the television screen in the fitness area. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to impress my boyfriend (a diehard Tar Heel fan) and return home with some knowledge about one of the games. However, as I watched the Bradley (BRAD)/Pittsburgh (PITT) game and checked out the score (in the bottom corner), I couldn't get past the fact that the score read "BRAD PITT." I actually laughed out loud. It was even spelled correctly! Needless to say, I couldn't tell my boyfriend a single fact about the game and wound up looking even more like your stereotypical girl. Any suggestions?"

Don't worry, Vicki -- you weren't alone. At least 50 male readers e-mailed me just to say that their wives or girlfriends noticed the exact same thing. A quick sampling:

While watching the Pittsburgh-Bradley game for 2 hours, my wife sits down on the couch and within 3 minutes asked why it says "Brad Pitt" on the screen. I guess the tourney really has something for everyone.
-- Ted Reed, Minneapolis

Wife walked in while I was watching Bradley-Pitt in the second round, looked at the score in the bottom right of the corner, and said, "Wow ... the screen says Brad Pitt!" Yet another reason to ban all women during tournament time.
-- Kevin, Albany, N.Y.

In the spirit of your Sports Gal/Sports Mom NCAA Tournament brackets, my wife had the following comment during the Bradley/Pitt game. She says in the most excited voice I have heard from her during televised sports and tells me that the box score says "Brad Pitt." Only a woman would notice that.
-- Ryan, Phoenix

And so on. My favorite e-mail came from David Rushall in Denver, who noticed the graphic before his wife and reported afterward, "I kept telling my wife 'Look, there's Brad Pitt!' She could not believe I could pick him out of the crowd during live play, so she continued to scan the crowd. After a while I let her know it was just the score in the upper left corner: BRAD 74, PITT 66. I giggled and continued to point him out every 10 minutes until the games ended."

Was this some sort of sociological experiment by CBS? Were they trying to increase the number of domestic violence incidents during that first weekend? Nobody knows. But the BRAD PITT saga led to an intriguing question from Dan in Villanova:

"This made me wonder if there were any other match-ups in any sport where the abbreviation would be a celebrity's name. I bet each of my buddies $5 that I could think of another one besides BRAD PITT. Can you come up with any? I don't feel like losing $30."

Well, I racked my brain trying to come up with one match-up so Dan didn't have to lose the 30 bucks. Couldn't think of one. So I went to ESPN.com's page that lists every college hoops team and wrote down every possible name that could fit into one of those spots for a graphic: TEX (Texas), RICH (Richmond), PITT (Pittsburgh), BRAD (Bradley), PENN (Penn), BROWN (Brown), BALL (Ball State), CAL (California), JACK (Jacksonville), SAM (Samford), BUCK (Bucknell), KEN (Kentucky), KENT (Kent State), RIDER (Rider) and BROWN (Brown).

Playing the mix-and-match game, there are two possibilities: Either a Jacksonville-Bucknell game (JACK BUCK) or a Troy-Brown game (TROY BROWN) ... and those two names aren't even remotely in Brad Pitt's class, nor would they have gotten your average female viewer to scream excitedly at the screen. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to realize that this BRAD PITT graphic was a once-in-a-lifetime event, not just because of the odds but because of the male-female ramifications in every household.

(By the way, I spent more than an hour figuring this out. And you wonder what I do all day.)

Dance

Elizabeth Newberry Wooldridge

My dear, sweet grandmother, Peggy Wooldridge died this morning at 5am surrounded by her family at home in Dallas,TX. She was 92 years old.

She was a cute little lady, with timely funny quips, a good laugher, and honestly opinionated like an old lady should be. She was an American girl raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, who went to college, married a giant, short man who was the quarterback at Texas Tech in 1924. She raised three girls, including my beautiful mother, her youngest daughter. "Gabby" survived to meet 17 of her great grandchildren. She still could speak fluent spanish if needed. She was our matriarch for the last 20 years since my grandfather died. Grandmommy will be missed.

Marching

...Is it too early to begin counting down the days until I finish residency and can move? Two years, 3 months to go.

...My body is so confused. I have switched back over to regular daytime hours after spending two weeks on night shift. Today, I slept from 4pm until 1030pm in my bed, extending what was supposed to be a nap. Now I find myself wide awake at 3am. I thought I was past it, but the body refuses.

...Now I am in working in the neonatal ICU, with all the preterm babies. All so small...I'm kinda scared to move them around too much.

...The basketball tournament has been awesome, as it is every year. My bracket predictions were miserably poor, as they are every year. Sucked to see Oklahoma go out early, but I should have predicted it. Too bad Kansas went out 1st round again, meaning that's all we're gonna hear about in KC on the sports radio. Glad to see Air Force lose...

...Going to a concert on Tuesday. Wilco is playing. Should be a good time. Just need to find someone to use the second ticket I bought.

...Finished reading a book that I started in November. Just finished it tonight. A book about Lewis & Clark (mostly Lewis) and their exploration of the Missouri River. The inner nerd in me is fascinated by exploration and discovery, by imagining what the city I lived in looked like when it was small, how the land laid out before construction changed it all, how the streets got their names, why some streets became four-lane, what used to be where the interstates are now. Anyway, it was a long book and I've completed it. Good stuff. Makes me want to vacation in Montana & Idaho and see some of the sites they saw that are reportedly much like they were 200 years ago.

...One year ago I found out I matched for residency in Kansas City. It was one of the best days I've had in years, achieving something I had hoped for so much. My mom was so happy for me. My brother was happy to hear it. My dad was with me when I found out. My ex-girlfriend was excited for me. I was in love. On the weekends, I was playing guitar at a great church with great friends, living a smaller version of my musical dreams on a weekly basis. I miss the guys in the band. Afternoons at the driving range were regular. I was winding down my medical education, enjoying the friendships I made in medical school. Kansas City, here I come! Seemed so exciting...

...Today, so much has changed. Much can change in one year...it has proven to be true, and I hope that bears out again in the next year, just in a different way.

L & D

This week, my sleep schedule has been reversed, as I have been on rotation in labor and delivery, bringing humans into the world at all odd hours of the night. Weekends, I have off. Unfortunately, I am up all night. As a matter of fact, the sky is beginning to change colors as the sun rises. Beautiful...and this sure beats waking up to watch the sun rise.

So last week I delivered five babies. In other words, I was there to catch the babes as they vaulted from their mothers' bodies. I was just there to make sure no cords were stuck around necks, good suction was provided, cords were cut, etc.

During the scuffle of shuffling instruments in my hands and clamping cords, I miss out on the mother's moment. Not to be overly soft, but there is truly nothing like the gaze from a mother to her baby.

It's also funny to think about what's going through baby's mind...like "What the hell just happened??...Why am I choking?...and why am I needing to breathe all of a sudden??...Man, it's freezing in h...wherever I am...All I can do is SCREAM! SOMEONE just HOLD ME or something." You watch them blink and move for the first time...it's all kinda fun.

And then it's back to bitter doctor land, where there's always other stuff hittin' the fan. Where patients don't do what's best for them. Where you have the mandate to just not screw up. To document everything correctly. To interview patients quickly and with compassion when they are far too verbal or tangential.

Please, God, give me more patients....Ooops...patience. I need to learn.

And while you're at it...give me a few more friends so I can go see lots of Royals games. And some friends who can teach me new tricks...I'm gettin' older by the day.

Serenity please...and some somnolence...it's 5am, dude...sorry...Dude

______________________________________________________________________

BTW...for those who were curious...turns out the girl from that prior post actually has a boyfriend--a detail I somehow did not pick up on during our brief conversation. Explains the discretion with which she handed me the note.

So...if you know any short women in the KC area...who are, using the female lexicon "gorgeous," (not 'cute') then let me know.

Your life's theme song

Wondering what the theme song to your life is??
Go to this website and enter the date that you turned eighteen years old. Leave a comment with the result.




I'll go first...

"I'll Make Love To You" Boyz II Men...HMMMMM...really?

one day stories honest thinking feeling

February 1, 2006--

5:15am Woke up...actually...no...

4:00am Woke up first at about 4:00 without the alarm. Fought waking for the next hour and a half, losing every 20 minutes or so. Snooze two times. Finally give in, shower, clothe myself, eat Raisin Bran--Kellogg's because it has more raisin. I realize that raisins are a gas producing food, rivaling beans. But I eat them anyway. Drinking Pibb Zero--need caffeine. Listen to the OKC sports radio station on the internet because KC sports radio sucks, and I miss "The Morning Animals."...but I hate the reminders.

~6:45am Get to work. Mild winter KC morning, unseasonably so.

7:00am Check-out from overnight ER docs at 7am until 7:15. Exit room, "MEDICAL CODE...TRAUMA 2" heard from the over head paging system. Walk over to trauma 2, patient wheeled in, already been "down," or without breathing or pulse for a long time. The team ran resuscitation, told me to try to put in a central IV, which was unsuccessful. Patient shows poor signs of survival. Death called, 0721. Some walk in to work today to meet deadlines. I walk in to work today to meet death.

7:35am But it didn't affect me much, since I had never seen the man alive. It's different when you care for the person for a month or a week and they die. Unfortunately it's by far much different for the family and friends. Must remember. Always.

8:15am Working in the ED. See a girl come through, with the a large team of doctors and medical students, who I've noticed for the last couple of months and who I think is pretty and has always been very nice to me for the 30 seconds of interaction we have had about 4 times before. Talk to her briefly, in passing, while looking over a chart. Double check her name on her nametag. Off to see patient...

8:20am ...who is a very drunk lady, who cannot even attend to my interview, but is complaining about her pancreas. Suffer through an attempt at an examination, doing my best. Get her some fluids. Make notes.

9:45 See the girl again. Sit at a computer to do minor things. The computer closest to where she's standing. Got her attention. Made small talk. Found out she likes to go to the art museum about once a week. I tell her I want to go sometime. I convince her to give me her phone number right there, handing her a prescription pad. Then I realize I'm at the nurses station, hitting on a woman. This isn't a bar! This is work. So in mid-action, I began to feel the need to be discrete--and I can tell she does too. So she sheepishly writes down her number. I tell her to fold it and just drop it in front of me. She turns her head, slides the paper off the counter. I pick it up without looking and put it in my pocket. Begin to say how I've been wanting to go to the art museum for a long time. Sheesh...smooth. But it's done.

10:00am See a lady in room A, who has one leg amputated from the past, and has come in because the other leg has a sore that looks like the sore that began the whole amputation process on the other one. She breathes heavily. Poor dentition. Drinks SEVEN beers a day. But only smokes 2-3 cigs a day (right). Both bad for circulation. I tell her she needs to just quit, explaining how it contributes to her poor circulation and that it could lead to further amputations in the worst cases. "Oh, okay," she agrees, almost as if I was the first doctor to explain that to her. "Can I get some breakfast?"

10:40am Drunk lady is sleeping it off. Nurse tells me that, when she wakes up, she complains of pain, then drifts back to sleep.

10:55am Thoughts return of the ex-girlfriend, shudder in the midst of work, our ending, my loneliness, her face, being replaced, disappointment, loss. For seconds, warm runs my blood, electric my nerves. When does it end?

12:15pm Sneak off to break room. Steal some of the free graham crackers and peanut butter intended for the patients because I forgot my lunch. Dipping the graham crackers into the peanut butter, so flavorful, tastes amazing when you're hungry and shaking. And I love peanut butter.

1:15pm Visit a patient who has belly pain, with bad swelling in his right groin, trouble urinating. Schizophrenic, too. I go to examine the area just right of his genitals. He is avoidant of this. As I press there, he nearly jumps from the bed in pain. I have to palpate his testicles as well, which elicits the same painful response. Sorry, dude. I leave him be for a while. I think he's got prostatitis or an infected testicle. My upper level resident, Natalie, tells me to go back in and do a rectal exam to feel his prostate. When I do that, he again nearly jumps through the roof, like I had a cattle prod on the end of my finger. Prostatitis.

1:30pm Two rooms down--separated only by curtains--a man is wrestling with security and nurses, exhibiting the herculean empowerment PCP provides. I'm asked to get Natalie so she can order chemical restraints. I admire my upper level. She is handling about three times as many patients as I am and exhibiting cucumber coolness. Meanwhile I'm trudging through exams, diagnosis, documentation. One day...I'll be there.

1:50pm Shudder, suddenly thinking again about the old girlfriend as I'm doing paperwork. How did I get here? Why did I have to move? Why didn't it work? How could she? So quickly? That guy. Her face. Love. It's been five months now. My OKC friends. Hours pass idle. My empty apartment. STOP IT!! God, take it away. Please... how many times must I ask you? Get the thoughts from my head. Fix me.

2:40pm See patient who is a lady with a swollen red ankle, telling me her story, how she's unable to support her large frame with this maligned left ankle, while calmly eating McDonalds french fries that her nephew bought her on the ground floor of the hospital. She can't remember hurting it. Just woke up like that. Okay.

3:00pm Afternoon check out. The end of my shift. We run down the list of patients in the ER. I zone out as I finally sit down for a bit, as the upper levels discuss the cases, think again about the ex, her happiness, my uphill. Glad to be back in the ER. Good to be back. I chose an interesting career. Tough, but fun sometimes. Action, anger, humor, people watching, major frustration, poverty, compassion, healing, relief, confrontation, apologies, manipulation, resignation, learning.

4:00pm Finish up with the day's patients. Thoughts return. Nerves fire again. Heading home...To what? Next event scheduled--work tomorrow. But I have lots of reading to do for resident conference and grand rounds tomorrow. Reading. Alone.

4:15pm Return to apartment building. Walk into my loft, which is really cool. Hardwood floors, cool design. Door shuts behind me. Sigh. Put down bag. Take off white coat. Sigh. Throw junk mail against the wall in exasperation.

4:25pm To computer. Begin to check email, which will be repeated, "Send/Recieve" every 3 minutes or so. Check and recheck websites. Shudder, as above, several times. Read blogs. Empathize with Dr. Gilbert. Realize that pain comes in so many different shapes. Cower in shame over self-pity reading Brooklyn blog. Wonder, at one time, where the Living God lives, so I ask him for directions. Check email throught the next several hours, catch a little TV. Surf. Avoid the reading. Scroll through the cell phone again and again, wondering who I can call. Call one of them...no answer. Text a friend. Call my brother to visit, but decide against the drive. Need to read anyway. Call for Thai takeout at the noodle place around the corner from my downtown apartment. Back to computer. Check email. Waiting for bed time to come around. Call mom, talk about Grandmommy's health, and other small stuff, her upcoming visit.

10:15pm TV watching...to sleep. Wait!...forgot to read for tomorrow. Read for five minutes. Shudder again a time or two. To sleep soon after.

2006, the thirtieth year of my existence

...Just got a free Gilette Fusion razor in the mail. It has FIVE blades on it. This is an upgrade from my current Mach 3 razor, which battles my beard with only three blades. Can't wait for the day when they invent a way to make a razor with six blades. What advances in technology! I believe in high school, the most razors you could get on a blade was two. I'm happy to be alive.

...And have you noticed the ads for men's razors are like 30 second shorts for Tron? Or BladeRunner? Like razors are futuristic? How progressive is scraping your face with tiny knives? Get me a razor that fires lasers out of it to remove my facial hair for weeks at a time if you're gonna advertise like that.

...To the Texas fans out there: National championships are fun, aren't they? We Sooners hope the best for you in your moment in the sun. Enjoy it. Pat ol' Vincent on the back, wish him well, and we'll see you in the Cotton Bowl.

...Current listening: Death Cab for Cutie, Citizen Cope, Andrew Bird
...suggestions from the audiophiles?


...Thanks to the OKC crew for a great New Year's Eve. I had a group of about 10 friends from OKC come to KC for NYE--I have great friends. We had a good time. You should come visit, too! We'll walk over to the BBQ restaurant next to my apt and enjoy some tasty ribs.

...I have a possible steady gig playing guitar at a local church. They've have offered me a position as the back-up guitar player for a once a month service. Is there any more back-up back-up role than one that at best/worst would commit me to twelve times per year?

...In actuality, I am playing tonight at a local church called Heartland Community Church, which is a fairly large church. I can't tell you how nice it is to plug in the electric again. Can't rock out in the apartment.

...For those of you who like stories, I'll be rotating through the emergency department again next month. For now, I'll share a good one...

...A lady was visiting some friends from out of town. They decided to hit an after hours party at a local bar. As they were in the parking lot, the lady reported being assaulted by unkown individuals, suffering a small 1-2 inch cut just underneath her eyebrow. Not thinking it too big of a deal, she made it home and went to bed. As she awoke in the morning, she noted having some difficulty with her vision in the affected eye, so she went to the hospital. Noting the change in vision with the cut and blow to the head, the doctors decided to get a CT scan of the head to look for anything more severe. What they discovered was that the cut wasn't simply a cut. What they found was a brightly illuminated 3-inch serrated blade inside the woman's eye socket, at the location of the cut. This explained the loss in vision. Apparently she had not simply been hit in the face, but stabbed with a knife, the blade of which broke off the handle and was lodged inside her head. To think that she went home, went to sleep, and then woke up to report to the hospital must be substantive proof of alcohol as a pain killer.


That is all...

No Passage but for the Perfect

Mother teaches baby daughter grown-up defenses
Hopes she avenges not giving in to her senses

Keep safe by keeping distant
Give love with great resistance
Carefully tend your fences
Cut ties when pain commences
Build up the walls around
And if one broken down
Step back and build another
Closer to stand your ground

Bruising blows to suitors from a ten foot pole
The body touch but do not touch the soul
Thus explains the feelings of wasted years
Why love if love is cloaked in fear