McSkillet Burrito

I love McDonald's, but I don't love the McSkillet Burrito. The sauce was weird, the "meat" was weird, the eggs were slippery and slithery, but the cheese was ok. I'll stick with the McGriddle until my heart explodes.

Graduated

My friend Justin and I at our Nursing Pinning Ceremony

I finally graduated from Cal State Long Beach with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. The only thing that stands between dedicating the rest of my life to ridiculous pursuits and hobbies is our state board exam, the NCLEX, which I will take in a few weeks.

Here's a group photo of our class

Sigur Ros Vista Theater

Lucky me, before Sigur Ros' movie premier at the Vista Theater in LA last Thursday, they came out and played a three-song acoustic set (Ágætis Byrjun, a new song, and Untitled #4). It was really cool to see them in that setting, cause there were only like 200 other people in the theater, and it sounded really good.
The gist of the movie was that following their 2006 tour, they returned back to Iceland to play free shows all around Iceland for people to come out and see. They'd play outdoors, in abandoned houses, an old industrial fishing warehouse, and a final show that culminated in a huge festival-type setting. The film was beautiful enough to be used as an advertising tool for the Iceland bureau of tourism, but the music just left me longing to hear the band live, especially because I was aware of their presence at the venue.
Afterwards, Jonsi was outside, and it looked like people were standing around him to talk to him, but nobody was really talking, they were just kinda standing there. It was a bummer cause I wanted to take a picture, but he was just surrounded by hipsters. Anyway, here are some pictures that somebody else took, and at the bottom is an mp3 of Ágætis Byrjun from the event:

Freeways I Drove On Yesterday

22W
405S
22W
57N
91E
91W
710W
405S
710E
405N
110E
10E (by accident)
10W
110E
101N
101S
5S
710W

I went to Anaheim for work and Amoeba to get free Sigur Ros tickets for Thursday night with Karisa.

Acapulco Gold, Aunt Mary, Broccoli, Dope, Grass, Grunt, Hay, Hemp, Herb, J, Joint, Joy Stick, Killer Weed, Maryjane, Pot, Ragweed, Reefer, Smoke, Weed

Are all the synonyms my psychiatric nursing textbook "Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing" lists for marijuana. Because I might be acquainted with somebody that has tried marijuana (mj) before (maybe), I thought I'd present some information about the substance from a medical perspective. Much of this information may be common knowledge, but I'll go through a general overview and see where I go from there.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the active ingredient in mj that produces mild physiologic effects including: an altered state of awareness, relaxation, mild euphoria, reduced inhibition, increased appetite, red eyes, dry mouth, increased pulse, decreased reflexes, and panic reactions. Mj is a difficult to classify drug. It is sometimes classified as a hallucinogen, although it rarely produces hallucinogenic effects; it does cause sedation, but it is not primarily a CNS depressant.

A cluster of symptoms known as "amotivational syndrome" has been described in some people with prolonged mj use. These symptoms include: apathy, lack of energy, loss of desire to work or be productive, diminished concentration, poor personal hygiene, and preoccupation with mj. Not all studies have not empirically proved this correlation, though many studies show strong associations between prolonged mj use and amotivational syndrome. Throughout mj use, tolerance can develop in heavy users, meaning higher doses are needed to reproduce a desired result. There are no physiologic withdrawal patterns of abstaining from mj, but there psychological symptoms such as cravings, difficulty sleeping, and weight loss.

So, does mj cause lung cancer? Here's a selection from a systematic review done on attempting to define a link between lung cancer and smoking (i've added definitions in brackets to some of the terminology):

...There were more cytomorphologic [cell shape] changes, in particular metaplasia [transformation of one type of tissue into another type that is not normal for that tissue-occurs with tumors that do no resemble the tissue from which they are derived], alveolar macrophage tumoricidal dysfunction [dysfunctional white blood cells in the lungs designed to destroy cancerous cells before they start massive replication], enhanced oxidative stress [more injuries to tissues], and histopathologic/molecular alterations associated with marijuana smoking compared with controls or those who smoked tobacco [changes in the resemblence of cells]. These findings offer biological evidence that marijuana smoking could be associated with the development of lung cancer in humans, as has been suggested by animal studies and cell line experiments. Specifically, metaplastic cellular changes may lead to malignant transformation. Abnormal macrophage tumoricidal function may result in unchecked cellular proliferation, and enhanced oxidative stress has been described as a mechanistic link in carcinogenesis presumably via mutagenic oxidative DNA damage....Despite these findings, the small number of observational studies fail to demonstrate a clear association between marijuana smoking and diagnoses of lung cancer. Therefore, we must conclude that no convincing evidence exists for an association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer based on existing data (Mehra, R., Moore, B., Crothers, K., Tetrault, J., Fiellin, D., 2006).

Basically, what the author is saying is that everything points to the likelihood of mj causing lung cancer, but based on the current studies that have been conducted, they cannot make the definite claim that there is a link. However, the author does go on to write that this could be attributed to less than ideal measurement techniques: inability to measure dosages for mj smokers, selection bias, and small sample size. So, there is a plethora of evidence that points to the likelihood of the association, but the "smoking gun" of the link has yet to be discovered. To me, it is no different than firefighters who develop lung cancer from inhaling contaminants during a fire, the high prevalence of Chinese women who develop it from frying food with certain ingredients, tobacco smoking, and coal miners from inhaling coal over a long period of time.

That's it for this one I think; let me know what you think. I like to look up topics that might be applicable to some of my acquaintances. These kind of feel like assignments, so if you have an idea you think is interesting, post it and I'll look it up.

References:

Stuart, G., and Laraia, M. (2005). Principles and practice of psychiatric nursing. St. Louis: MO, Mosby.

Mehra, R., Moore, B., Crothers, K., Tetrault, J., and Fiellin, D. (2006). The association between marijuana smoking and lung Cancer: a systematic review. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166, 1359-1367.

Hitting The Jackpot At The Record Shop

All on vinyl for $20.

Google Reader

I've become addicted to Google Reader, and I changed the color scheme of my blog to reflect my enthusiasm, because it reminds me of it. All you have to do is type in the websites that you normally visit, and whenever they're updated, it uses the RSS feed to automatically notify you in google reader. And if you want to make things super easy, you can use iGoogle to make a google homepage, and then you get to have gmail, google reader, google notebook, and a whole bunch of other things all in one window. Chicks love it, guys are envious of it. It's revolutionizing my existence, and perhaps one day I will read so much that I'll eventually be able to predict all the things that will be written.

On a more dreary note, my ipod's battery finally died (after a good 2.5 years), so I took it apart and looked at the inside, which was pretty cool. If anybody has an extra 4th generation ipod they don't use anymore, can I have the battery? I am pumped though to be able to go get an 80 gigabyte ipod with video, maybe after one more paycheck.
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Now playing: The Knife - Listen Now
via FoxyTunes

Wes Anderson's AT&T Commercials

So good

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Now playing: A Tribe Called Quest - Oh My God
via FoxyTunes

Cyanide and Happiness

A pretty funny cartoon.




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Now playing: Elliott Smith - All Cleaned Out
via FoxyTunes

Health Promotion

So, awhile ago I was noticing how nearly all of my blogging friends use blogger to upload their masterpieces. I kinda thought blogging was cool, so I wanted to have one, but I was struck with a dilemma: Why would anyone want to read my blog? I posted anyway, and people read (likely due to boredom), but I was still left with an underlying feeling that my blog was pretty pointless.

Over the summer, during my Public Health Nursing class, I realized this blog might be a good avenue to offer miniature pearls of wisdom and snippets of information that I come across in order to help people live healthier and dispel many of the health rumors that become ingrained in our society through the media. My plan is to post small, interesting, health-related information that I come across, and I can also answer questions or look into researching that topic.

DISCLAIMER: It is also important to mention that I'm not a physician, so I cannot diagnose or answer people's quirky questions. If anything ever seems different or not right, it is essential that you make an appointment with your doctor or go to the hospital. There are a lot of legal issues involved in distributing health information electronically, so I want to stay out of that by limiting my posts to more general health concepts rather than try to solve individual's specific questions.

Ok, so my first post is going to be mostly for the ladies, but all the guys that read my blog should know it too so you can tell girls about it. Folic Acid (or folate) is an essential vitamin in the diet to produce red blood cells. Generally, people don't have a deficiency of folic acid in the diet in the U.S., but the important consideration is for sexually-active females. In the early development of the fetus, folic acid is essential to build the neural tube (which eventually becomes the spinal cord and brain), and not having enough folic acid may cause the fetus to have defects such as spina bifida or anencephaly (latin: without head). 400 mcg (micrograms) is the recommendation set for all women of child-bearing age, which happens to be around the usual amount in a multivitamin; otherwise you might find folic acid in leafy vegetables, orange juice, peanuts, and whole grain bread and cereals.

So, that's about what you can expect for the future. There are many important considerations and minerals, like iron, during pregnancy, so always be sure to schedule the prenatal visits with your doctor. I'm thinking my next post is going to address smoking.

And Now For Something Completely Different

This is the sort of stuff I look forward to reading about on the internet.

Sicko

This is a little write-up I had to for my "Healthcare Delivery Systems" class. I didn't take much time on it, so don't expect it to be too eloquent. Also, I highly recommend that you see the movie "Sicko," it's a Michael Moore film, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. It does, however, do a good job at illustrating the disparity of healthcare in the US compared to other countries. One more thing: I definitely did not address all of the factors associated with the healthcare dilemma, but there are a few important points in there.

In the film, Michael Moore elucidated many shortcomings within our present healthcare delivery system. There is definitely a method to the way Moore presents the material, a predictable formula of heart-wrenching stories, shortcomings of the US government, a comparison to other industrialized nations, and finally a return the feasibility of instituting changes within the system for the benefit of the masses.
The stories Moore found to portray the awful state of conditions in the US were terrible, despicable consequences of a capitalist society without checks on quality. One example I remembered from the film was when Cigna Healthcare approved a 9-month-old child going deaf for a hearing aid in one ear, but not the other ear. Understandably, this angered the father so much that when he became aware that Moore was collecting stories for his film, the father submitted a letter to Cigna management detailing this, and within a few days, miraculously, the child was approved for a hearing aid in both ears. There is no question this absolutely deplorable, and illustrates exactly the point Moore was attempting to shape by producing the film: that our current system of for-profit healthcare is a fundamentally inept program, because the incentive for healthcare organizations is to provide care, but also concurrently minimize costs to maximize profits. Therefore, it is impossible for a healthcare organization to try to convey a message of caring and extending care to as many people as possible, because by doing so, they lose a substantial amount of money.
Another innerving point the movie made was the footage of Nixon in the White House, discussing healthcare. The decision to use the Kaiser Permanente model for healthcare was the origin of a system structured to meet the needs of masses while remaining for-profit. Given the fact that England developed their national health service following World War II, it’s amazing that US would not have followed suit and developed a similar program. The only rationale that could be provided is that the current system really benefits the upper class and government. And then, when Hilary Clinton really spearheaded the campaign to institute a national health care system, she was amazingly close, if it weren’t for the system’s overwhelming complexity and intense opposition that did a very effective job of convincing the general public that would inevitably lead to a socialist society where the people had no say in the government. This idea is strongly refuted in the depictions of England, France, and Canada, because while all three of these countries have accommodated universal healthcare, they are still are very much a free society.
In summary, healthcare in the US is the best in the world, for those who can afford it. However, due to the increasing cost of healthcare, more and more people are unable to afford it. By moving to a national system, additional taxes would be taken out of individual’s earnings, but at the same time, those individuals would be paying less in premiums. Its time that the our society stopped focusing on an each individual for themselves mentality, because doing slows contributes to a less and less healthy society, which undoubtedly holds considerations for economic implications in the future.

Chris Pronger Suspension

Compare these two hits:

I can't believe Pronger is being suspended for this hit. It might have deserved a minor penalty, but the punishment of an entire game suspension is not equal to the act. It has to be mostly because of Pronger's previous cheap shots that the league is punishing him that much more seriously.

Chronic Tacos

Last Tuesday I had to go to Target to pick up some crap. On my way out, I noticed that the "Chronic Tacos" location they were building had been finished and they were now doing the grand opening. Before they had finished, I vowed to myself that was the lamest thing ever and I wouldn't go there to buy tacos. As I was passing by, my innate curiosity got the best of me and I was drawn inside like the millennium falcon into the death star. Similar to my curiosity regarding the "Pepsi Summer Mix," I had to see just how far these people went into an ambiguous Mexican food for-white-people-that-smoke weed or know-someone-who-does motif. Again, I was not left disappointed with my findings. Trucker hats, nautical stars, that logo with the two naked girls sitting down and facing each other, and Cadillac emblems abounded in all their glory, and that was just on the drink cups. It was also funny to me all the equipment they were using, presses to warm the tortillas, a specified quesidilla press, and the taco-making assembly-line concept that was obviously "borrowed" from chipotle.

Actually though, for white person tacos, they were actually really good. Oh yeah, and on Taco Tuesdays, they have "fatty" tacos.

Pickled Eggs

I made a batch of pickled eggs and they turned out much better than I anticipated. There are only twenty left so you'd better hurry up and get 'em.

The Office

Anybody who already watches The Office knows how good it is. But I just have to say, after the season finale tonight, damn, to me, that show is amazing at how much it gets you to care about what happens to the characters. For that reason, it's probably the only reason why its the only show I watch. I know there are tons of people that love and watch other shows, like Lost, 24, Pokemon, and Grey's Anatomy, but to me, those shows all take themselves much too seriously and the over-dramatization of it all is what sets me back.

Anyways, I cannot wait to find out out things pan out in the next season. This last season had like 23 episodes in it, and I have to admit, it really became a part of my regular regimen. Only what, 5 more months til it starts up again?

I found this blog that corresponds to the level of my introspection and enthusiasm for discussing all the nuances of the show.

Que Sera

Ok, I have no idea what "que sera" means in spanish, so when i looked it up on google translate, it came back "that sera."

anyways, theres this like dance place/bar a few blocks from my house that i had heard about from my friends annie and tristan. the name of it is que sera, and apparantly, they play funk and r+b music every second friday of the month or something. i was skeptical, at first, and missed the first few opportunities due to school and such. tonight was the first night i was able to go, and it was pretty sweet. highly recommended. its a totally cool atmosphere and it doesn't matter if you suck at dancing. all the people there seemed relatively down to earth, and it wasn't all loud with hoochies and playas everywhere. also, as the night progressed, i slowly but surely worked my way over to the apple of my eye for the night. i found out her name was amber, and she was a large black girl. some of you in the audience may know about my particular propensity for overweight people in general, and when they also possess minority status, that really lights the fire in my oven. i was sooo dissapointed that her name was amber though, i really, really wanted it to be imani or kiki. regardless, this place is highly recommended and we gotta go next time.

Pepsi Summer Mix

I knew I should have know better. I knew about my assured impending dissapointment. There was only one nagging curiosity that I couldn't let pass me by- it has happened far too many times in my life already. The dillema I wanted to settle was the degree of how awful the soda would taste. Sure enough, once I got home and eagerly poured the gentle carbonated corn syrup over a few ice cubes, my suspicions of dissapointment were fully actualized, putting me into a content and dissastisfied state. As an alternative to buying Pepsi Summer Mix, another way to simulate it's taste would be to grind up some tropical Skittles and blend them thourougly with regular Pepsi.

On another note, something else that made me give into my temptation for trying this Pepsi was the "limited edition" note on the side of the bottle. Some might say I'm the fool for knowlingly handing over my money for a product that I knew I was going to be displeased with, but I think I was more warranted due to both my non-existent expectations and overwhelming curiosity. If anything, Pepsico and I are both winners in this interaction.

A Bad Feeling At The Bottom Of My Stomach

A funny yet accurate 32 second summary of republican debate. I didn't watch the debate, but I probably didn't need to.

Volta

I can't wait til Tuesday. I'm still pissed I couldn't go to Coachella because of my class; they're really stringent about missing any days at all for our clinical/hospital time, and I was completely unable to get out of it unless I fabricated an enormous fallacy. Although there's a good chance it might have been worth it based on what I heard about the show.

On The Road

This book is full of memorable quotes, but to me, the last paragraph stands out the most. To think about the weight it carries with regard to the entire novel that precedes it still astounds me, and I can re-read it from time to time without ever growing tired.

So in American when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sprinkler dims on the prarie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.

I read this book awhile ago over the last winter break, but it has always stuck with me. Although it might not be the densest read, I remember being completely absorbed by the writing (though I think I heard somewhere that it was written in something like 3 weeks on a massive cocaine binge) and narration. If nothing else, its incredible that this story was pretty much based on actual events, and these people did repeatedly hitchhike across the country making a huge adventure out of whatever developed or whatever they felt like doing.

New Color Sheme!

Alright, for the two of you that look at this blog occasionally, you may have noticed I changed some of the colors and fonts to make it more aesthetically pleasing. The inspiration for this was found at Anthony Carillo's recent graduation party, which took place at his grandma's house in Cerritos. Not only was it an architectually sweet 1950's home with little changed, but in the bathroom, there were three hand towels that were blue, orange, and bright candy-colored pink. Sort of like one of those spiral candy things you can get at Disneyland. It looked almost planned to have those three towels on the rack right next to each other because each one complemented the other so well.

I'm not sure what spurred my decision to alter my blog based on that, but Matt Jensen inspired me to write a blog about it.

Holy Shit

Jonny goes pretty crazy on guitar at the end of this one, check it out.

Quote Of The Day

I enjoy insightful quotes from observant people. Here's the one I noticed today:

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

- Thomas Jefferson

/:

I meant to post this link earlier but it seems I forgot. It's disparaging to read this guy's short plays and to think no interventions were undertaken to help him psychologically, because they're an obvious plea for help. I haven't kept up entirely with the details of the case, but these are a couple of the short plays he turned in for a creative writing class.

Things Koala Bears Would Say

Lists on McSweeney's are hilarious if you haven't checked them out. One of my favorites:

Things Koala Bears Would Say.

BY TIM WEINMANN

- - - -

Yay!

Love me!

Climbing trees is fun!

Let's volunteer at a soup kitchen this Christmas.

My tongue is funny!

Eating leaves is fun!

Will you help me think of something nice we can do for Grandma?

Look, a pouch!

Let's prevent a forest fire!

No, you're the cutest ever.

Camus is boring. I find Karl Jaspers's philosophy much more enlightening.

Wheeee!

Let's make cider!

I bet I'll live forever!

Recycled Songs

Here's an awesome comparison of two Nickelback songs. Listen, and you can hear that they released two singles that are nearly identical. Pretty funny.

The Magic Bullet

My roomate Sunny bought this blender and holy crap this is amazing, this is one of those "As seen on TV" products that you'd wonder who would buy it. Apparantly South Korean immigrants are incredibly perceptive at recognizing the value of a quality product, becuase this blows my mind. It's sweet because it gives you all these different sizes for cups, and they even call the normal-sized cups "party cups."

The magic bullet features two blades (flat and cross) that can be used for:

• Pureeing!
• Mixing!
• Mincing!
• Chopping!
• Grinding!
• Crumbling!
• Refining!
  

Just like any other smoothie maker you throw the stuff in and it blends it all up. I just threw some of the stuff that we had in refridgerator in: orange juice, ice cubes, strawberries, and a banana and it was amazing. Eating fruits sucks, but drinking smoothies is awesome. In addition, it came with this sweet recipe book to make "adult party drinks," coffee drinks, baby food, and appetizers, like marinara sauce and salsa and other delicious edibles. Ahh man, once the summer hits its going to be cranking out margaritas and stawberry daquiries like no other. One of the adult party drinks in the book is called "A Bullet To The Head," and it looks pretty staggering. Tomorrow morning, instead of stirring up my scrambled eggs in a bowl like some fool, I'll be bulleting them straight to my heart.

Easter!!!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone that was able got to spend some good time kicking it with family. For me, this was the first year without baskets, an easter egg hunt, and dyeing eggs. So, a bit depressing in that regard, but I still got some sweet $$$ and a hollow chocolate easter bunny. Half-price peeps tomorrow, anyone?

Hayao Miyazaki

I've recently watched three of Hayao Miyazaki's films: Spirited Away, Castle In The Sky, and Princess Mononoke. Every one amazes me at its degree of gradiosity, you can't help but feel engrossed in the entire story. I can see a definite hinderance for some people to not get involved if they're are unable to get passed the jovial nature of the story; however, once you do (it doesn't take much convincing on my part), you get to see and hear dynamic characters and really amazing orchestral arrangments. Really, watching these movies takes you back to being a kid again and remembering why you loved all the classic Disney animations, whereas nowadays it seems those movies are just an hour and a half of cheap laughs drawn amid computer drawn illustrations.