What I Don't Need for Christmas

More stuff. I know the traditions. When family gets together we're supposed to get each other presents and it's good and fun and I like it. But, I live in this apartment that doesn't hold much stuff and I sit around and study for most of my day, so how much stuff do I actually need?

I could probably use a couple winter shirts (I could give away about 30 more that I never wear) and maybe a gas card to help finance getting to and from school. So Christmas is about Christ emptying himself by becoming a baby, but for me Christmas is about getting things. I'm sure much of this will change in the future when I start making some money and actually begin to buy presents for family members and children. But, shouldn't I stop asking for things that I don't need and maybe ask my family members to channel some of that away from me and towards those who are truly in need.

My mom being the planner and wonderful mother that she is always asks me weeks in advance what I want for Christmas and I can never think of anything. Why? Because I really do have everything I NEED. Wouldn't it be more in line with the Christmas spirit to spend the money to the marginalized and the oppressed of the world rather than asking my in-laws and parents to keep all resources in the family. (Now, to all who are reading this and have already bought me a present don't think I am not grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity. Really, thank you. I love presents, I'm just questioning why I love them so much.) My materialism and selfishness is the problem. I often think even my petty needs are more important than other's actual needs.

Anyway, I'm resolving as of now that while my resources are slim (and this is a very relative statement) I'm going stop asking for stuff, start buying more gifts for people, and ask those who would buy me stuff to give it to a charity. Not only is this better for the world as a whole, it will also give me and my family members who store my stuff more space in their closets and attics.

Any thoughts? Am I sullying the goodnesses and wonder of the gathering around the Christmas tree and opening presents? Well, this is my attempt to be somewhat provocative.

Life is Good

Right now I'm sitting on in my living room icing my ankle and watching Sportscenter with a stack of books and magazines that I've been wanting to finish or start since August. I'm fired up about a lot of things right now. To begin, I passed my first semester of med school. I think I put more time into studying this semester than I did in all of college, it was insane. The thing with med school is not intelligence, it's endurance. If anyone is willing to learn this crazy medical language and is able to sit and study for 10 or 11 hours a day it's no problem. I guess what my dad said about hard work making up for what is lacking in intelligence is true. (He didn't necessarily mean that I was lacking intelligence (I don't think), but that I just need to work hard if I want something.

Next, Meg and I are heading to Memphis on Thursday for Christmas break. So here's all the anticipated highlights of the week: Erling Jenson (sp) apparently an amazing restaurant that the Johnsons are taking us to, going to their cabin out in the woods to play with the niece and nephew and look for deer, turtles, bugs, hawks, and all the wildlife you don't see in the suburbs, of course Christmas day and all of its wonder, seeing my sister again for the second time in a month, catching up with old Memphis friends, not cooking our own food, not hearing the people above us walk around like sumo wrestlers, not studying, reading some books for pleasure, seeing Meg more than 3 hours a day, going to the beach for New Year's, seeing Meg's Aunt Ethleyn (sp), and, not that this list is extensive, but watching college football bowl games.

Another bright note is that Meg and I joined our church yesterday. This is the first time I've ever become a member of church without my parents. I was kind of against the whole membership thing for a while. My argument was that why do I need to join a church, it doesn't have any real significance in my relationships with people or with God so why do it. But I can see why it matters now. For one it's kind of like a marriage ceremony, you don't need it to be married but it's more celebratory and it's a formal, public way to commit yourself to someone else. I think too many people (myself included at one point) date their church instead of commit to it. That's why people move around so much because once you get mad at each other for some little offense you break up. Dr. Johnson said it well, (I paraphrase or change completely), "Churches are like attorneys the closer you get to them the less you like them." Of course neither one of us think this is completely true but it pretty indicative of many people's experiences. I didn't mean to give you a rant about ecclesiology but I guess I'm trying to explain my change of heart. Anyway, it was a good experience and we really love our new family here in Birmingham.

Well, I'm really excited about the next couple of weeks and the fun it's going to be to see all the people I love. So, I guess I'll be blogging a few times this week 'cause I don't have much to do so I'll say something more provocative tomorrow.

Top 10

Alright, so apparently I've bored most of you with my silly interests in narrators, Michael Jordan, and fried turkey so let's get some interaction. The assignment is: this year's top five books that you've read. (A few rules: You can't say the Bible, a map that helped you find your way, Wikipedia, or this blog.)

My 5 in random order:
1. All 7 Harry Potter books (that's right) by J.K. Rowling
2. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut
3. The Heart of a Servant Leader by C. John Miller (sounds campy but its not)
4. Animals (a huge pictoral anthology) by Don E. Wilson
5. The Conformist by Italo Calvino

Alright your turn.....

Boris Karloff and Jim Dale

(From a newsday.com blog) Will anyone ever forget this green color of the Grinch, it's perfect!

Two amazing storytellers. Last night I had the distinct privilege of hearing both of these men narrate two shows. The first was a classic, it was Boris Karloff in none other than Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the second was Jim Dale in a new one which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was called Pushing Daisies. Meg and I of course love Jim Dale because he told the Harry Potter stories to us in on our car trips. If anyone hasn't read Harry Potter yet please listen to it from Jim Dale on CD, you can get it from any half way decent library system.

Let me just say that there is really something to be said about skillful story-telling. It is definitely a lost art these days. All the movies, TV shows, and various forms of entertainment have stamped out our ability to tell good stories to each other. My dad is a really good joke-teller and I think if he tried he'd be really good at stories too. In my opinion, the key to doing it well is knowing what to emphasize. The Grinch, first of all is an amazingly illustrated story of redemption without the movie, but think of how much Boris Karloff adds to that little 26 minute movie. As Meg and I were watching it last night we couldn't help but revel and laugh in how good the narration was.

And Pushing Daisies was a quirking, fast-moving, artsy sitcom that is about this guy who can resurrect the dead with one touch, but kill them with two. It sounds weird and it is, but I really liked it. It's kind of a love story, detective show, comedy, and intelligent take on the world all rolled into one. My favorite line of the show last night was when the blunt detective was about to arrest a suspected murderer and he and his sidekicks were debating how this guy might have interpreted what he did, and the detective said, "The truth isn't like a bunch of little puppies that all look the same and you pick your favorite one. There's one truth and it's knocking at the door."

Anyway, I just thought I'd put these modern day bards out there for y'all to know about. Have a good day.

Just Checking In

(One of the two turkeys we cooked, this one was fried. I actually got this picture from cookingamerica.com, but you get the idea.)

When I was in high school, my mom used to make me call her once or twice a night "just to check in". However, painful this was for me at the time, I now realize the purpose. She just wanted to know what I was doing and that I wasn't being arrested. Likewise, I for all five of you who care, I'm just checking in.

Thanksgiving was really good. Ashley, my big sis, is an awesome hostess. It's funny to see how we all grow up. When you're learning life lessons at the same rate as the people around you, you tend not to notice the changes. But after this weekend, I have to say that Ashley is not longer the sorority girl I remember from our last year in the same town. She is a bonafide adult. She cooked tons of good meals, treated all her guests with grace and dignity, she had fun, watched football, cleaned up after the "dirty Dalgos" (Megan excluded from the dirty part), and she was grateful to God for us the whole time. That's freakin' awesome. I really admire her, she's got so many virtues that are foreign to me. So thanks Ash.

School is back in high gear and I'm still trying to stay on the surface and not breathe in the water hovering close to my nose. But, here's one comfort: when I apply for residency I probably won't have to do too much explaining for not making A's. Why is that? I'm probably going into primary care and not many people want to go into that (low pay, long hours) so I don't have to kill myself trying to outdo my classmates. Another comfort: life is so much bigger than climbing the ladder. What? I mean that there always seems to be something better just over the horizon, but in the end that search is a mirage so I'm going to be content where I am, whether it's an A, B, or C in Fundamentals II I don't care.

OK, so I'm going to have to blog about more random things that I like and what I think about life because I need a break from medical stuff. So anyway, just thought I'd check in.

Houses for $1

So I was listening to NPR on the way to school this morning and I heard this report about cities with diminishing populations giving away abandoned houses and the property they are on to the neighbors living next door. The city reported on was Flint, MI (former home of a huge GM plant that closed and Michael Moore's documentary Roger and Me). The issue was that many of these abandoned homes were being used for all the illicit activities that no one wants to live next to, so the city decided to just hand the property over to the neighbors figuring that they, out of anyone, care the most about what's going on there. The city tried to auction off these abandoned properties but they weren't getting enough for them to be worth their time and resources so they just gave them away. In addition, the city is also converting condemned properties to neighborhood parks, rarely ever a bad thing. As a young, financially insecure hopeful physician who wants to work the indigent population and who wants to own a home someday this really appeals to me. Now, I'm pretty sure these homes and properties they are giving away are not in the most affluents parts of Flint, but with this change these neighborhoods will become a little more agrarian and I think add a lot to the quality and aesthetics of life there. Anyway, some other cities they mentioned that are doing this same thing are Little Rock and New Orleans. The mayor of Flint referred to his city's weakening economy as a "gradual Katrina stretched over 35 years". That's a pretty powerful metaphor. Now, I don't really want to move anywhere north of St. Louis, that was cold enough, but the idea of buying a home with a substantial amount of land in a city that probably needs physicians is appealing at least maybe for NO or LR. Well, just thought that was an interesting idea.

He's Back

Those were my two favorite words as a 13 year old boy. Why? No, it's not because I was a particularly religious chap who contemplated the resurrection. These words carried the weight they did because of number 23. Words defy me. Defy was word often used to describe him. I feel bad for kids these days who wake up in the morning and don't have posters of him occupying the largest wall in their room (as I did until I graduated high school). Actually, "I'm back" were the words that resurrected the swooning world of sports back into greatness for a brief time. If you don't know who I'm talking about (and the picture wasn't a dead give away), shame on you.

Michael Jordan. I was watching TV the other night while Meg was grading some papers and I couldn't stand watching the Rockies implode on themselves so I started going through my regular channels. 16-ESPN, 20-TBS, 23-National Geographic, 30-Discovery, 51-TNT, 64-Animal Planet, nothing. So phase II- 17-ESPN2, and then it happened 18-ESPN Classic! (Sadly, I just listed all those channels by heart, I shouldn't know all that, I need to save room for medical information.) The year was 1995 and the Bulls were playing the Magic. I watched the game, it was amazing, basketball in all it's purity, it takes me back. Unfortunately, the Bulls lost the game and the series to the Magic that night, but he was back and everyone knew that soon they would suffer unders the unstoppable perfection of MJ.

If you could get a Ph.D. in basketballology I would do and write my thesis on "The Aesthetics and Superlative Nature of Michael Jordan's Mad Game". It's hard to pick which stats should be mentioned but here a few from Wikipedia:

* 14 time All-Star
* Olympic Gold Medalist—1984, 1992
* Five time MVP—1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998
* Rookie of the Year—1984
* Defensive Player of the Year—1988
* 11 times All-NBA—10 times first team
* 9 time All-Defensive First Team
* Lead the Bulls to 6 NBA Finals Championships (2 3peats)
* Most scoring titles—10
* Most NBA Finals MVP awards—6
* Highest career scoring average—30.12
* Highest career scoring average playoffs—33.45
* Most consecutive games scoring in double figures—866
* Highest single series scoring average NBA Finals—41.0 (1993)

So this is my tribute. Mike, if you ever read this blog, high five man for being the best who will ever live. All this to say, I wanna be like Mike.

So here at UASOM we're doing this integrated curriculum where you are supposed to learn basic science and its clinical applications at the same time. Basically, what this means is that our classes are condensed into this summer school-like format that make things more interesting, but much more intense.

So yesterday we had this ethics session about Big Pharm (pharmaceutical companies making tons of money off selling brand-name drugs). There are some crazy things going on with which drugs and doctors. The stink is that supposedly Pharm reps are giving doctors all these gifts like free lunches, free trips to tropical locations to hear a plug for their product, and free samples, pens, pads, etc. and these gifts influence doctors to prescribe their medication and not the cheaper generic stuff. (By the way none of this is new, its been going on for a long time, but the marketing of drug companies is increasing drastically in recent years.) There are stats that, in essence, prove that this marketing strategy works too. So what's the solution for me? Should I not welcome drug reps for fear that I might start prescribing the more expensive medication to get a cruise compliments of Pfizer? Or should I take the cruise and not show up the meetings and stick it to 'em by taking their money and not listening to their spiel? Meg wouldn't go for that.

For me this raises bigger questions about the medical field like should it be a business or a service-oriented profession? I definitely think that helping people is a higher calling than making good money, but how do I parse out all the conflicting interests that will inevitably come my way like taking less pay to help needy people, providing for my (future and present) family, taking a seemingly harmless trip on the bill of a pharmaceutical company, etc.? Should patients simply trust that their doctor is looking out for their best interests? Probably not. There's a lot of greedy, dishonest people out there. It is interesting to me how many of our daily interactions, even something as serious as our health, still dependent on blind trust of other people. I guess this is reason for getting to know your doctor, pastor, mechanic better and for learning things on our own.

Med School: My First Real Job

The picture is of Volker Hall on UAB's campus, where I spend about 12 hours of everyday!

Since I've had the last few days off to be at home and do domestic chores, do a little thinking and reading, and watch too much ESPN I've come to a couple of conclusions about my life. First, play time is not meant to be a regular occurrence. I'm starting to realize that every choice I make keeps me from not doing other things. The problem is that I love too many things like learning about animals, reading literature and theology, hanging out with Meg, getting to know people well, watching The Office, good beer, art, Alabama football, etc. but I can't have them all. Like my dad always says, "It sucks getting older." Anyway, trade-offs define the adult world so much more than my old youthful world, that's why I say med school is my first real job. Kind of connected to this realization is that I want to make good use of the time I actually have. Usually what that means is less ESPN and more talking to Meg, reading good books, and catching up with friends. It is really easy to get so busy that after a while you forget why you're waking up at the butt crack of dawn. So my first real job that I pay them for is making me slow down and think about why: why would I want to learn all this crazy stuff, why would I work this hard if I don't plan on making a whole lot of money in primary care, why do I care so much about cleaning our apartment, why does being overworked affect Meg and I so differently, etc. All these are part of my thoughts the last few days. So back to ESPN (or a book) for me. We're off to Savannah tomorrow to see Jake and Celeste, so have a good weekend (if anyone is actually reading this, ha).

I Owe You an Explanation

I've always hated blogs. But they are like crack to me. I can't kick the habit of reading other people's even though I don't like the idea of it. My main beef is that a blog is like a little universe centered around ME. There's this pretty little page with my picture on it and makes me feel so special! I should probably just be happy with Facebook. But, I can't help myself, I have this irresistible urge. So here's my agenda, I'm always wishing I could talk to my friends and family more often than I do, and I know that when I read other people's blogs I want to call them and see what's going on. So this is an effort to get us to talk more or at least for you to know what's going on with me. I realize after a short while my mom and my sister will be the only ones who read it but oh well, at least they know little more about their Austin. Okay, talk to y'all soon.

By the way, I'm on fall break from now until next Monday, so if anyone wants to call me or hang out, I'm free until Wednesday when Meg and I leave for Savannah, GA to see Coach Collins lose (I mean coach) his first high school football game.

Here's a picture because you're supposed to post pictures on blogs. It's not of me, but it's a part of my collection of "The Beach Art Series" that will make me millions one day.

Oh yeah, the title of the blog as many of you will know is the phrase that I have most often uttered in my life. Why? Because that's what I get on all my hamburgers and until about five or six years ago that's all I ever ordered at restaurants or fast food joints, so 19 to 20 years of hamburgers with cheese, ketchup, and pickles only, hmmmmm . . . makes my mouth water even at 7:30 in the morning.

To the Four Corners

I'm back. I know all zero of you have been waiting for this day. Through a whole lot of hard work and procrastination I figured out how to login and restart my blogging. Tell all your friends.