pet peeve #324.7: obvious research disguised as important

don't you love those research studies that, upon publication, have everyone saying "duh" and wondering what the research funding could have been spent on? prime example:

CNN.com: Men see bikini-clad women as objects, psychologists say

...and this just in! the sky is blue.

as a psych major in college, i totally support psychological research. but Princeton -- really? can we please study something that might actually help us learn something useful? i especially like the researchers potential next step:

"Another avenue to explore would be showing images of men's wives and girlfriends in bikinis, Raison said. He predicts the objectifying effect would not happen in this context."

oh good. i hope your prediction is right, or you will spend a whole lot of unsuspecting IV-leaguers' tuition money providing wives and girlfriends with more fodder to attack their husbands and boyfriends. and if you are correct, then what? you can conclude males can overcome objectification of women, but only *their* women? wow, the irony might just make my head explode.

...back to studying repro for my LAST FINAL OF 2ND YEAR TOMORROW! yippee.

about half a teaspoon, actually.

because i have little social judgment and thought you would want to know the useless things i'm learning in medical school:

comparison of ejaculate volume by species
ram: 1mL
human: 2-3mL
bull: 4mL
dog: 9mL
stallion: 70mL
boar: (as the lecturer put it) a messy 250mL

do you think this has to do with the accuracy of the aim? just a random, inappropriate-for-the-general-public-who-are-not-being-inundated-with-ridiculous-amounts-of-reproductive-information question. feel free to answer... or not.

ends, beginnings, and the moon

10 days and counting until i finish my second year medical school classes. !!!

(insert Natalie-Portman-SNL-digital-short-style WHAAAAT?!)

after, i will spend two months studying for my 1st US Medical Licensing Exam (Step 1). it's on april 10. AUGH! i really feel like med school is flying by. it didn't last year... it dragged mercilessly through neuroscience this past fall... but as soon as we hit hematology/oncology in november, it's FLOWN. not complaining. :)

i also completed my last OSCE (objective standardized clinical exam - they video us doing history and physicals on fake patients for a grade) last night, which marks the end of my clinical class as well!

in other news, henry and i have found a place to move! we are filling out the application and crossing our fingers. we'll be moving mid-april (after my exam). the top three things i really like about this apartment:
1. closer to both Henry's work and UAB (and going home will be in the opposite direction of rush-hour traffic, HALLELUJAH!)
2. literally $250 cheaper than what we pay now
3. decked out with stainless kitchen appliances, ceiling light fixtures, huge closets, and wood floors.
it's a steal. i can't wait to move. our current apartment is livable, but the combination of price, location, and amenities at the new place is thrilling. plus, i am ridiculously addicted to arranging and rearranging furniture, so this will be the ultimate high for me. (HA!)

in completely random useless news, i discovered the other day that you can buy property on the moon. it's ridiculous. there's this whole section about "is it real?" and they explain how an international treaty was signed that said no country can claim land on the moon, but the treaty did not say anything about individual people. so apparently -- wham-bam -- that makes it valid. give us $30 plz thx bye. ::facepalm::

all you need is love.

it's amazing how many times a week i invoke the words of coldplay (politik) -- "give me love over this." because, truly, what else do you do with stupid drivers, tiring schedules, frustrating people, and blown expectations?

it's slightly immature to complain (of which i've been guilty 100-fold), and beating yourself up over it is not only inappropirate but further destructive.

does this mean i'm growing up? i sure hope so. i'm ready to waste less precious irreplaceable minutes of my life trying to fix the unfixable. sing it coldplay: give me love over this.

groundhog day and wild animals

in case you were unaware, punxsutawney phil saw his shadow, which means we will have 6 more weeks of winter. in the process of obtaining this information, i happened upon a very informative website about phil, which taught me the following random facts:

1. Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors. [sorry Birmingham Bill, apparently you are a fake!]

2. There has only been one Punxsutawney Phil. He has been making predictions for over 120 years! He gets his longevity from drinking the "elixir of life," a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life.

3. After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world.

when i was in the 3rd grade, we lived in Pittsburgh, PA (but BOO STEELERS -- all of my family is from Philadelphia -- big rivalry!). Punxsutawney was one of my spelling words, and I will ever remain loyal to the creepy little all-knowing meterologist rodent.

in other random animal news, i got henry to take me to the zoo on sunday! unfortunately, the birmingham zoo is in a sad state at the moment. many of the animals were "hibernating" [you can't fool me, i know alligators don't hibernate!] and the zoo itself was in somewhat disrepair. in any case, we got a few good shots of the animals that were out. it was a beautiful day too!


spectacled langurs


who you lookin' at?


well-trained sea lion


new arrivals: sleepy kangaroos!


what a fun afternoon!

radio and naughty cat

so the other night, henry and i were at circuit city (which is going out of business in hoover = awesome sales) and we found this ipod radio remote on sale for $29 ($49 on apple.com). i absolutely love it. i'm a big talk radio fan, and i listen to NPR pretty much all the time. and that's the one thing about my ipod classic i wish it had -- radio. so, this does the trick. it's an FM radio receiver. woot!

in other news, our kitten fuzz figured out how to get herself INSIDE THE COUCH last night. we still haven't figure out all the details... we were sitting on the couch and felt a bump. our other cat, millie, was sitting behind the couch peering curiously under it... and that's when we realized, holy cow, fuzz must be inside? so we up-ended the couch and discovered a hole in the felt that covers the bottom. we felt around, tried to use the kone vacuum to scare her into jumping out... all to no avail. at some point she managed to climb from under the seats to the back of the couch, and then we didn't hear any noises. for a split second, we feared the worst. had we squished our cat inside our couch?! augh! it was at that point i retrieved my handy-dandy pen light from my white coat and flashed it into the couch. in the back corner i saw a little white paw. i grabbed it and started dragging her out! i mentioned to henry once or twice during this whole ordeal it felt like a very poorly carried out c-section (ha!). in any case, we got her out safely. then we used cardboard and electrical tape to try and prevent it from happening again. hopefully. oh man. always keeping us on our toes. :)

Rx: humility, #90, 1 po TID.

i loathe self-righteousness. you are no better than me. i am no better than you. there are people i look to for advice and example, but not one of them is 'better' than me. and not one of them, no matter their station, has a reason to act self-righteously in response.

although i generally consider my relationship with my God to be a private affair, i will declare that i am learning more fully each day why the Lord our God loathes self-righteousness and pride. because it's laughable and horrifying at the same time. because it destroys the image of the person who displays it while simultaneously enraging, frustrating, or humiliating the witness. most simply - because it's a lie. your superior attitude is a lie.

here's wishing my job as a physician allowed me to prescribe an ounce of humility three times daily... and that people would swallow it.