Monkey Challenges

I challenge you to beat me! (and waste your time doing it)

http://totebo.com/mko.php?c=qrosqBoistoEsuorFBoUBopBsosUtUo0Z6OouuEE

4959 baby ;-)

Scrubs Charlie Brown Christmas - Hilarious!

One of my favorite poems

Had this strange desire to track down this poem - I was thinking about it this past weekend out in Banff and Jasper while chatting with Kim, so I scoured the net and lo and behold, have found it. I can only hope this is how I can see the world and experience all that people have to offer - I am just not a "small talk" person - that just doesn't matter.

Without further hesitation, "The Invitation"

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
And if you dare to dream
Of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk
Looking like a fool for love,
For your dreams, for the adventure
of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets
are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched
The center of your own sorrow
If you have been opened by life’s betrayals or
Have become shriveled and closed
From fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain,
Mine or your own
Without moving to hide it
Or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
Mine or your own,
If you can dance with wildness
And let the ecstasy fill you
To the tips of your fingers and toes
Without cautioning us
To be careful, to be realistic, or to remember
The limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story
You tell me is true,
I want to know if you can disappoint another
To be true to yourself,
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
And not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful
And therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
Even when it is not pretty every day,
And if you can source your life from God’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure,
Yours and mine,
And still stand at the edge of the lake
And shout to the silver
Of the full moon, “YES!!”

It doesn’t interest me how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
After the night of grief and despair,
Weary and bruised to the bone, and
Do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are,
How you come to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
In the center of fire with me
And not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what
Or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
From the inside
When all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
And if you can truly like
The company you keep
In the empty moments.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Entertainment book coupons and bittorrent

Just an email I sent out to my fellow residents, in case anyone else is looking for this info!

Hey Gang,

Amrita just asked me for the entertainment book coupons, so I thought I'd send it out to everybody - totally forgot about it earlier!


http://www.entertainment.com/saversguide/sbc/splash?nextUrl=%2Fsaversguide%2Fsbc



all you have to do is put in any email and password, then your address, and you get 4 free coupons a month. If you need more, just use another junk address - I'm almost certain this works (I had Chris test it before for me - it's set up automatically on my computer).

Enjoy and save - and if you're looking for more deals, the two best sites for hunting are:
www.pricenetwork.ca
www.redflagdeals.ca

both are essentially the same, and people gather deals and coupons to share.

BITTORRENT

Oh, and for those that were asking about downloading tv shows and bittorrent.

On windows, download a little program (less than 1 mb) called utorrent

www.utorrent.com

On Mac, the tiny program is called transmission:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/27916

once you've got that, there are tons of bittorrent sites. To see almost all at once, got to

www.torrentscan.com

I also find using www.thepiratebay.org for downloading divx movies - just go to top 100, and under video there's a tab called movies. Anything that's encoded by AXXO is always great quality. To actually watch them, you may need a codec from www.divx.com - it's a program that lets windows interpret these files properly.

For me, i get my tv shows from www.tvtorrents.com it's really well organized, it has a list of all the shows, and which episodes are up, etc. If you get hooked on bittorrent, and want an invite, let me know - I can give you some free "credits". Basically, you have to upload as much as you download so that you're sharing nicely.

On average, 30 min tv shows are 175 mb, hour shows are 350 mb, movies are 700 mb. there are no commercials, and most look great on all monitors, as they are usually taken from high definition broadcasts. Lately, with more space and speed, higher resolution shows can take double to triple the space, but do look nicer on bigger screens. You'll need a newer computer to run them properly.

Two last things. I always recommend getting an external hard drive, both to hold the shows and to back up your computers - I know most of you don't, but a word to the wise, how much time would it take to collect all your documents and get your computer working the way it is now if you lost it or if it broke down? On a mac, it's eaasy - I can give you a program called superduper!, you click a button, and you're backed up. On a PC most external harddrives have software that helps with that. The most reliable deal for an external harddrive is from Costco - the maxtor onetouch III 300 gb for about 185 before taxes - well worth the investment (I have two ;-)

OK, that's it for now. If you need more bittorrent detail, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

Cheerio,

Nicholas

P.S. - pics can be found on calgarypeds2006.zoto.com

Check to see if you're tone deaf!

Hey, this is pretty neat - as you can see, I'm not world class, but see how you do!

Brief Update

Hey all, haven't written in ages, but will try and update soon. Briefly:
-graduated from med school, and actually won an award! Yeah Dr. Nick!!
-Toured Europe with Paul - best time ever, and eight countries in 21 days was definitely worth it
-moved to Calgary, set up shop in new apartment, loving living on my own
-started residency, scared crapless but settling in
-Been to the mountains, rock climbed, started biking, met some new good friends, but still working on getting a life
-got a new phone, cell and home, and have long distance, so let me know what your number is so I can call you!
-if you're female, single, cute (I'm sorry, I love a great smile), and would like to go out sometime, don't be a stranger ;-)

Will try to actually post again soon, and leave some pictures up! for now you can go to drnick.zoto.com to see all the great europe pics!

Nico

Outcast Genius

Outcast Genius 60 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 52% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius. Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject). Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius. Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 57% on nerdiness You scored higher than 82% on geekosity You scored higher than 89% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Graduation

Hey All!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I've finally graduated...Woohoo! Four long years seem so short right now. It's 5 am, and I must hit the sack, so Good Night, and Good luck.

Jason Mraz - I'm yours

Hello All,

My friend Nadia introduced me to this song, and I can't stop listening to it/trying to sing it - I found the lyrics, but there were a whole whack of errors, so I've been efficiently using my time by not studying and fixing the lyrics, so I thought I'd share the final product with all of you! My work should go to good use, right? Haha - at least I have a little something to show for all this wasted time ;-)

well you done done me and you bet i felt it
i tried to be chill but you so hot that i melted
i fell right through the cracks and i'm tryin to get back
before the cool done run out i'll be givin it my bestest
and nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention
i reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

i won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait i'm yours

well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love
listen to the music of the moment maybe sing with me
i like peaceful melody
it's your god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved

so i won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait i'm sure
there's no need to complicate
our time is short
this is our fate, i'm yours

*scat*

i've been spendin' way too long checkin' my tongue in the mirror
and bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
but my breath fogged up the glass
and so i drew a new face and laughed
i guess what i'm a sayin'is there ain't no better reason
to rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
it's what we aim to do
our name is our virtue

i won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, i'm sure
there's no need to complicate
our time is short
it cannot wait, I'm yours

no i won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, i'm sure
there's no need to complicate
our time is short
this is our fate, I'm yours

No please don't complicate
our time is short
this is our fate, I'm yours

no please don't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, the sky is yours


well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
i like one big family
it's your god forsaken right to be loved, love, love love

well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
well look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
i like happy family
it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved

listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
I like peaceful melodies
it's your god forsaken right to be loved loved loved

I'm Yours from the album "Sampler 001" by Jason Mraz

10 fun science questions!

Why is the sky blue? Facts you should know
Scientists offer 10 basic questions to test your knowledge.

Andrea L. Gawrylewski, Columbia News Service
Think you know you know your science? Recently, several science gurus -- Nobel Prize winners, institute heads, teachers and others who spend most of their time thinking about science -- were asked, "What is one science question every high school graduate should be able to answer?"

Take their quiz and see how you do.

1. What percentage of the earth is covered by water?

ROBERT GAGOSIAN, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

2. What sorts of signals does the brain use to communicate sensations, thoughts and actions?

TORSTEN WEISEL, ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK

3. Did dinosaurs and humans ever exist at the same time?

ANDREW C. REVKIN, NEW YORK TIMES SCIENCE REPORTER

4. What is Darwin's theory of the origin of species?

JONATHAN WEINER, 1995 PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR

5. Why does a year consist of 365 days, and a day of 24 hours?

LESLIE SAGE, NATURE MAGAZINE

6. Why is the sky blue?

ROY GLAUBER, 2005 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER; HARVARD UNIVERSITY

7. What causes a rainbow?

KIM KASTENS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

8. What is it that makes diseases caused by viruses and bacteria hard to treat?

HELLE GAWRYLEWSKI, JOHNSON & JOHNSON (AND THE AUTHOR'S MOTHER)

9. How old are the oldest fossils on earth?

PAUL NURSE, 2001 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER; ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE

10. Why do we put salt on sidewalks when it snows?

ARTHUR KNUDSEN, BRIDGETON, N.J., SCHOOLS

Extra credit: What makes the seasons change?

If this quiz wasn't as easy as you thought it would be, you're not alone. According to a recent National Science Board survey, 90 percent of Americans are interested in science, but only 15 percent consider themselves well-informed. In high schools, only 60 percent of students complete a general biology class, while only 40 percent complete a general chemistry class and a scant 27 percent complete a physics class, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Even if you did learn basic science in school, these questions might be tough to answer, according to O. Roger Anderson, professor of science education at Teachers College at Columbia University.

"People are so deeply involved in their family lives and professions," Anderson said. "How are they supposed to remember this stuff?"

Answers:

1. About 71 percent of the earth's surface is covered by water.

2. The single cells in the brain communicate through electrical and chemical signals.

3. No. Dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. Modern humans did not appear until around 200,000 years ago.

4. Darwin's theory of species origination says that natural selection chooses organisms that possess variable and heritable traits and that are best suited for their environments.

5. A year, 365 days, is the time it takes for the earth to travel around the sun. A day, 24 hours, is the time it takes for the earth to spin around once on its axis.

6. Solar radiation sunlight is scattered across the atmosphere by a process called diffused sky radiation. The sky is blue because much more short-wave radiation -- blue light -- is scattered across the sky than long-wave radiation -- red light.

7. Rainbows can be seen when there are water droplets in the air and the sun is shining. Sunlight, which contains all colors, is refracted, or bent, off the droplets at different angles, splitting into its different colors of red, yellow, blue, etc.

8. Influenza viruses and others continually change over time, usually by mutation. This change enables the virus to evade the immune system of its host so that people are susceptible to influenza virus infection throughout their lives. Bacteria mutate in the same way and can also become resistant if overtreated with antibiotics.

9. About 3.8 billion years; they're bacteria-like organisms.

10. Adding salt to snow or ice increases the number of molecules on the ground surface and makes it harder for the water to freeze. Salt can lower freezing temperatures on sidewalks to 15 degrees from 32 degrees.

Extra credit: Seasons occur because the earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. At certain times of year the top half of the earth leans to the sun and therefore gets more sun and has summer. When that same half of the earth leans away from the sun it gets less light and has winter.

©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Great Web 2.0 Shite!

Some fun web 2.0 stuff - found it all no this site

Web Awards

My pics on the net - you can get your own zoto account and get 2 free gigs of space!

Oh, and if you're trying to send big files, up to 1 gig at a time through email, use you sent it!

OK, that's a taste of the fun for now - have to check out of Fredericton, NB tomorrow, where I've been for the last two weeks...woohoo! Arlo and company have been fabulous.

Toodles

My top 10 from Tanzania

10) Don't get into cars with strangers - and if you do, don't accept a joint. And if you decide to hold the joint, police will materialize and demand money. For further clarification, please contact Guy Leblanc ;-)

9) If you buy something, and the person is smiling and happy, you've paid way, way too much. If they are disgusted with you and curse your name, you've only overpaid slightly

8) Theft, robbery, and rafting down the Nile will likely not kill you. If you really want to live dangerously, sit/stand in the back of an open bed truck going down a dirt road at 80 km an hour on the side of a mountain. Or better yet, to just get seriously maimed, ride a "boda boda", a scooter/motorcycle zipping in between traffic while only wearing shorts, tshirt, and no helmet.

7) Elections in Canada are a dull, lesser of two evils while trying to get at least a decent part of the population out to vote kind of affairs. Elections in Uganda are a wild rally, flash the wrong symbol and you get beat up kind of affair (which is difficult when one party has the thumbs up for their symbol and the other party has the peace sign).

6) Always bring enough medications (anti-malarial, HIV prophylaxis, anti-diarrheal) for everyone travelling together - especially the anti-diarrheals...

5) when dancing at home, people touch each other because they're attracted to one another. When dancing in Uganda, people touch each other looking for money.

4) Buy good toilet paper, and bring it with you everywhere (back to the diarrhea...)

3) When you write home asking what people would like, expect funny/sarcastic/offensive remarks. For example - "Something made from the last individual of a species, or the last breeding pair of a species."

2) When all else fails, invent your own games. Our best one yet - water bottle bowling, in our room. Seven sets, confused neighbours, photo finish tie - priceless.

1) Tanzanian "Tout" Logic - the people who try to sell you stuff.

Seeing me walking down the street, this may be what's going through their heads:

Asian = Japanese
Japanese = Konichiwa
Konichiwa = Kung Fu
Kung Fu = Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee
Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee - Kung Fu Demonstration

Therefore, their best chance of selling something would be to put down their, things, start a kung fu demonstration in the street and ask
"Konichiwa Jackie Chan, want to buy a Jambo Jambo CD?"

Tanzania Girls!!

Zanzibar, Tanzania - Intrepid explorers Nicholas "Nico" Wong, Daniel "DS" Smyth, and Sohaib "Soby" Al-Asaaed "Assassassin were spotted off the coast of stonetown this past Friday scuba diving and snorkelling. After the polar bear dip (the water was a mere 29 degrees), the three warmed up with fresh mango juice at the Buni coffee shop - in fact, they went for the full hat trick. The evening was spent at the fresh fish market, where the "cooks" were miraculously able to turn fresh crab, barracuda and shrimp into smoky coal imbeded leathery strips. To top this all off, the atmosphere was ripe with accusations of picture taking without permission, the threat of police calling (a very loud mobile phone call to the police to send cars to pick up these unruly tourists), a very loud, inebriated want to be tour guide for his new "japanese" friend Nico, and an absent Guy Leblanc.

Where in the world was Guy Leblanc? The better question would be: "Where in the world is Guy Leblanc's bag??" Kenya Air was kind enough to "redirect" said bag to unknown destination, to have Guy wait in Dar es Salaam with newfound resident friend Melanie - fortunately they were able to join our intrepid explorers on Friday. Unfortunately, the experience, coupled with a raging sinusitis and little promise of meaningful elective work in Tanzania prompted Monsieur Leblanc to do some finangling, and as such he will be departing for the motherland this week.

Saturday was a lazy day, whereby our explorers ran into "the americans". Heather and Jen were also refugees from the recent "tensions" in Uganda (Museveni won the election, Besiyge is contesting the results, and things are overall stable in Uganda). Though well travelled, they were able to demonstrate just how much one can pay despite staying in a developing cuntry. 100 dollars american per night (at a nice hotel - the Canadians are paying 10,000 shillings per night, or 10 canadian dollars), 85 dollars to go on a "dolphin tour" that consisted of a rickety old boat chasing a small pack of non-bottlenose dolphins, with insufficient shade to prevent sunburn and insufficient resources to find better dolphins. As such, "swimming with the dolphins" involved chasing the dolphins, madly jumping in the water, and seeing - NOTHING. wow. Oh, and apparently it had not been explained that bargaining was essential in this country. "Paintings" that look identical in every shop visited start off at 79,000 shillings, and end up being bought for 15,000 by most tourists - but the americans proved to be more generous. Having said this, this reporter must say the americans were very nice, likely very "book smart", but did benefit from their Canadian friend's "street smarts."

These explorers found the restaurant "Mercury's", apparently named after Fredde Mercury, who apparently is the lead singer for Queen, who apparently was gay and HIV positive, and wouldn't you know, came from Zanzibaar - for those of us born in the 80s, this was fresh news. Finally, Nico the early alzheimer's patient managed to forget the money belt with traveller's cheques when going to change travellers cheques, Ferry tickets when going to change ferry tickets, CDs when going to back up pictures, and his swimsuit when going to the beach - he's currently batting 4 for 4. Soby was able to match this with his ever impressive quotes: "What's a MILF" and his talk of "DVDA" over dinner - if you don't understand this, please don't ask. This is not for polite conversation.

From Tanzania with Love,

Lester the Lobster, from PEI

CaRMs over, Uganda Begins

Hello all,

Wow, I can't believe what's happened, and what's yet to come. Just finished a month touring across the country for CaRMs interviews. A great experience, meeting great people (Stacey in Saskatoon, Kathy in Mac, and myriads more - this is more just to jog my future selfs memory ;-). I was pretty tired by the end of it all, but it was well worth it. I've seen wonderful places to go, and you'll just have to stay posted if you want to find out where I'm headed to in July!

Tomorrow I leave for Uganda. Exciting, but also scary. What exactly is scary I'm not sure, but something ominous looms in the distance. Wish me luck, pray for me, eat KFC for me...anything to help me along. I think I'm more scared about all the children I'm going to see there who are going to die and who we could have done something for back home. I don't know - I just don't know.

OK, if you get a chance, read "Race against time" by Stephen Lewis. It came very highly recommended, and I plan on finishing it tonight. It is hard though, to read about all the inequity in the world, and how little that is changing.

See you all in six weeks time,

Nicholas

CaRMs is Over!!

Wow - a full month of traveling over and done with! What a great experience, and how great it is to just be back home...oh so very tired. I also realized that everyone knows about this blog, so I'm not going to publish my rank list yet!

Where I interviewed, in order of interview:

Queen's Peds
London Peds
Ottawa NESR Peds
Ottawa Family
Queen's Family
Calgary Peds
Saskatoon Peds
Edmonton Peds
Memorial (NFLD) Peds