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.