7 Things

Even thought I wasn’t officially tagged, I kinda like the 7 things about me meme I read on a few blogs and will be taking Dr. Liana up on her suggested tagging.

1) I won’t read a blog if it has South Park characters or Looney Toons cartoons on the personal info area. Really. How can I take you seriously if I keep seeing some kid on South Park or Bugs Bunny to the left or right of your most recent post? I can’t, just can’t…so I don’t. Regardless of the content – I cannot get past that.

2) I have problems with my body image. Sounds like a girl issue, but in all honesty I’ve never been comfortable with how I look. I think it stems from where I grew up and the constant harassment I dealt with by my neighbors and classmates regarding my “weight issue”. Even when I was quite fit I thought I had to improve and have since realized that at times I had eating disorders. I’ve gotten a little better, but I’m constantly judging how I look, how fat I feel, and change clothes frequently based on what I think. I also find myself constantly looking at others and evaluating them just to compare. It's juvenile, stupid, and it gets old fast.

3) I’ve been a commissioned artist. While in high school and a couple times in undergrad while pursuing an art degree I had people request and purchase specific pieces from me. It was not a lot of money, but I loved doing it. One of the first that I did was when I was in middle school and my uncle wanted a watercolor of the Starship Enterprise fighting off a Klingon cruiser - he still has it in his theatre room near some memorabilia which is really nice of him. Now, thanks to medicine, I haven’t drawn or painted anything substantial beyond quick sketches in the last four years. Thanks a lot med school– well rounded personalities my ass!

4) To help with my image issues I’m also going bald. Wife has pointed out a little freckle on the top of my head that we’ve used as a reference point in pictures and while looking in the mirror when I buzz my hair*. The hairline keeps retreating, but only in certain spots, leaving me with an ‘M’ shaped hairline. Attractive.
* 4a - I cut my own hair

5) I have 4 tattoos – one unfinished and 2 that I’ve tried to have removed, but are still visible. I wear long sleeved shirts all the time in order to avoid having them seen, but at times in the OR I’ve had to expose them. For a while I was called "Dr. Tattoo" by some nurses. It got old quick.

6) I constantly evaluate people’s hands. I try to see how worn they are, do they fidget, do they keep them in their pockets, or are they sweaty? I inspect their nails and determine how clean they are, are they well maintained, does the person bite them, or are they dirty? Since doing some anesthesia rotations I've now begun to look at their veins as well in order to assess how large an IV I could use. I think hands tell a lot about a person without too much being said by anyone and are less likely to make someone nervous if you're looking at their hands for a minute or so.

7) I grew up a Mormon. Being from Utah that’s kinda the standard for a large percentage of the population and I was no different. I’m inactive now, but my name is still on their records and every now and then I get some call from someone who is supposed to check up on me. A lot of my family is still active and practicing in the church, but I’m under the belief that most religion is full of personal agendas and no one religion is correct. Therefore I’m agnostic – and loving it.


I won't tag anyone because I feel that you should just do these based on an interest. Go ahead or don't, I don't care (actually I do, but I don't want to seem needy).