Carlos Mencia

Is an idiot.

New toy

A long time ago my mom had started me a collection of antique cameras that she would find at garage sales and such. This is the newest member of the family that resides on a shelf above my desk, Leigh Ann surprised me with it yesterday along with about 5 lbs of candy and a giant plastic spider (I hate spiders). It's a 1920's era German, Goerz Tenax. It's weird to think someone actually used this thing before WWII was even a thought in anyone's mind. I cleaned the bellowing and took out the lenses and cleaned them. The engineering on it is very clever, everything folds up into a suprisingly compact and efficient little box, it took me 30 minutes just to figure out how to use the view-from-above mirrored viewfinder (which is composed of two lenses and a mirror that fold together to make a triangle), I'm sure it was the iPhone of its day. It takes 120mm film, so as soon as I can find a cheap place to buy and develop that stuff, we'll see what sort of cool, artsy shots we can take with this thing.

Sneezing.

No, you heard right, not seizing, sneezing. I was in a conference today, and in a group of Indian students, one sneezed, no one said "God bless you!" At first I expected to hear it. But then, when you think about it, what a ridiculous thing to say.


"Oh, something irritated your nasal mucosa and your body mounted an immediate reflex to blow it out with forced air and mucous that you will then catch in your hand? That's gross, man. But hey... Let me aid you by bestowing upon you God's grace, through the golden angel's hymn of my words - God bless you my child..."



"Oh, and, YOURE WELCOME..."


Let's review traditional responses to other unavoidable body functions:

burp - laugh/look of disgust from random people near you
hiccup - laugh/nothing
yawn - nothing/rude look from your attending physician
"barking spider" - see above
sneeze - a truncated prayer for which the "blesser," expects thanks

Yes, I know the history of the phrase and that it is just a polite thing to say. But what really irritates me is when, say, you're not paying attention when someone sneezes, you forget to give them God's blessing while they have nose-goo flying at mach 1 out of their nares. They turn to you, with watering eyes and a red nose and say -

"Uh, Thanks....? pffff."


Great, now I feel guilty because you don't dust often enough... I'll be honest, I'll probably keep saying it.

Autumn

I've always liked the word autumn for some reason, I like the season too, of course. Growing up in oppressive heat and humidity will train you like one of Pavlov's dogs to anticipate October like it was your birthday. But this year is a little different, I finally get to see the colors change in New England like I've always heard about. Not a slash or loblolly pine in sight. Other than that, things have been pleasant and routine - up at 6:30, in bed by 10:00. I've been riding my bike quite a bit lately but those days are likely numbered as now when I go out I can't feel my face for a good hour. Here are some pictures of trees:

Repost

Almost a year old, but still funny, and surprisingly accurate...

http://view.break.com/428454 - Watch more free videos

Busy

We've been hard at work lately. I've seen some really interesting patients though - Hashimoto's thyroiditis combined with a secondary adrenal insufficiency, abdominal aortic aneurisms, pneumotosis, etc.

9th floor medicine ward where I spend my days. Residents and students viewing lab results and patient records.