I never really fully understood why the MD/PhD program at medical schools were so competitive. Sure, you have a full ride to the school. Sure, you get a MD and a PhD degree in one go. But, you have to spend twice the amount of time in school than if you just went for a MD program. So, I told myself I would just go for a MD degree. That would only take four more years after college, as opposed to the 7-8years of the MD/PhD programs at most schools. However, as I shadowed a neurologist today, I realized why a PhD degree would not be so bad.
The neurologist I shadowed worked at his own private clinic, so I basically saw him interact with patient after patient. He was really busy thus there was not much time between the breaks to ask questions or interact, but I felt like I learned quite a lot from my morning with him.
- The job of a neurologist is to observe everything the patient does. This can be as small as noticing that a person fills out a form very carefully to testing for memory problems by asking the patient to recite numbers. Basically, anything is game when diagnosing a patient.
- Anything abnormal should raise a flag, which may not be totally mentally related. Be sure to be knowledgeable about other conditions as well.
- Take all information objectively. This may sound easier said than done. We have seen this all on medical dramas such as House or Grey’s Anatomy where the characters stress the importance of listening to info objectively, but I found that when I listened to one of the patients have his caretaker tell information about him, I was influenced greatly by what the woman said. However, the neurologist later said, “You realize I have to take things objectively, so I’ll run a few tests.” I also heard from my advisers that one of the biggest problems right now for doctors is when patients withhold their information or only provide selective information. Doctors have the job of putting together a puzzle with missing pieces and other pieces in the wrong order.
- Being a good doctor is being about to cater to what the patients’ caretakers want. All the caretakers are usually very interested in knowing more about the disease, but some more than others. Be sure to provide enough information without boring the caretakers.
The doctor did not have any new patients come in besides one patient, but that patient already knew his illness. Thus, I didn’t actually see the process of diagnosing anything, so I hopefully will see that later.
However, as the morning went by, I realized how boring diagnosing or treating patient after patient would be every day for a year. Thus, researching is an outlet. Researching allows creativity and close-knit group interaction, which I do like. Also, instead of just diagnosing certain unclear conditions, researching actually allows people to try to figure out what exactly is occurring during each problem.
I definitely have to start researching soon. I have procrastinated way too much in applying for labs. I will be getting that out tomorrow ASAP.
Anyway, I might be shadowing an internal medicine doctor tomorrow, but that is if the weather is not horrible. If it turns out to be snowing, I will be shadowing next week instead.
Recently, I was working on creating a unique design for my Project 365 page as well as a new section titled Yingnaisms. I wanted to be able to add entries to these sections easily through the WordPress installation I use for this blog, but I also wanted the two sections to act as separate websites. How was I to do this? I made use of WordPress categories. For the rest of this entry, I will be discussing what I did in order to create separate websites through the use of WordPress category functions, including separating the design of single pages. In other words, separating the design of an entry in Project 365 from my main WordPress design. Any files modified is in the themes folder being used.
Step 1: Create your categories. I made a category for each type of page (Project 365 or Yingnaisms). Any entries related to either of those two categories would be filed under those two categories respectively. For example, when I posted a picture for Project 365, I would categorize the post under Project 365.
Step 2: Omit entries in the category from the main blog page. To accomplish this task, I used WordPress conditional tags as well as the query function. I placed the following piece of code in my index.php file right after the get_header tag.
<?php if ( is_home() ) {
query_posts($query_string . '&cat=-125,-128');
} ?>
This code basically says that if the page is the home page (the main blog page), it will be display the posts except for any posts in the categories with ID 125 and 128. The category ID number can be found by going to Posts >> Categories and clicking the category in question. The ID number will show up in the URL. For example, when I click on the Project 365 category, I am taken to
http://yingna.yinten.com/wp-admin/categories.php?action=edit&cat_ID=125
The ID for this category is thus 125.
Step 3: Create and implement a design for the category page. Create a design for your category. WordPress allows the easy creation and manipulation of category templates to create a template for each category with the same concept as the WordPress page template. More information about WordPress category templates can be found here.
The structure of the coding for this page will basically be the same as the index.php page and should be named category-ID.php. For example, I named the page category-125.php for the Project 365 page. The coding in the file should include a header, a query for the posts in the category, and a footer. Remember, the get_header and get_footer tags in WordPress do not need to be used. Instead, I created another header and footer and implemented them directly into the category page.
Step 4: Separate the design for the entries in the category from the main blog design. When the website goes to an entry rather than listing all the entries in the category, WordPress calls on the single.php file in your themes folder. Thus, in order to change the formatting of my entries, there had to be a code that first asked if the page was in the correct category and then redirect the formatting to another file or another piece of coding. In other words, I wrote this piece of code in my single.php file before the get_header tag.
<?php
if (in_category('125'))
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-125.php');
if (in_category('128'))
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-128.php');
if (!in_category('128') && !in_category('125')) { ?>
This code asks if the entry is in the category 125. If it is, the category-125.php page would act as the template for my entry. If it is not, it will read the next bit of code and ask if the entry is in category 128 and if it is, the category-128.php will act as the template for my entry. If the entry is neither in category 125 nor category 128, the rest of the code will be read and the normal single.php template will be displayed.
Notice that I included the same category-125.php page I had used for my main category page as the entry page. I was able to do this because the main page for my Project 365 website and its entry pages are very similar, so I just used the same file. However, make sure that your code is valid for both instances. For example, if I had a piece of code that would only be relevant for an entry page rather than the category page, it might output an error on the category page. In these instances, you can include conditional tags (is_category() or is_single()) or create another file to replace the single.php file.
Step 5: Create a comment template for the entries. Although you may be tempted to directly add the comment template code directly into your category-ID.php file, this does not work. The comments only show up when the code is being accessed from the comments.php page. In order to overcome this and not make the comments.php overly lengthy, I added a similar code to the one I placed in single.php to the comments.php page before at the very top:
<?php
if (in_category('128')) {
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-128-comments.php'); }
if (in_category('125')) {
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/category-125-comments.php'); }
if (!in_category('128') && !in_category('125')) { ?>
All the template coding for my comments will then be placed in the category-ID-comments.php file.
Finished!
Now, once all those files are uploaded, your category page functions basically separately from your main blog website but the addition of new entries are all from the one same admin panel!
I know I have arachnophobia and I know that there is no rational reason why I am afraid of these harmless critters. I’ve read Charlotte’s Web and I enjoyed it, even though the main character was a spider. Yet, I still feel a sense of panic when I see the eight-legged black and sometimes hairy creature resting on a wall. I even grow fearful if I see a picture of a spider (in biology books, I usually turn those pages very fast or put another book over the picture of the spider). My heart starts to beat fast, especially if the spider’s legs are thick or long. When I have to kill one of these pests, I may even start to sweat in anticipation of having my hand near the spider.
Just yesterday, when I was about to go to sleep, I saw a spider near my bed. It was a small one, so I was not as scared. And since I was going to sleep pretty late, no one else in my house was awake. So, I knew I had to kill it by myself. However, when I drew close to the spider with a folded napkin, I could feel myself grow nervous. In the end, I placed the napkin behind a book and slammed the napkin/book on the spider in a very swift motion. I had to crinkle the napkin together without looking to confirm if I had indeed killed the spider and throw it into the garbage. However, in the process of slamming the book, I managed to cut my hand.
I wish I was not so afraid of spiders. My parents and sister have both reasoned with me that there is no point in being afraid of such small creatures, yet I still grow nervous. My dad commented that if I was placed in a shack full of spiders, I would get over my fear in a day or two. I’m not so sure about that; just imagining such a situation makes me cringe. But, I would like to reduce my fear. It seems that growing older has only increased my alertness to spiders and heightened my fear. Does anyone have any suggestions about getting rid of the fear? I just tried to Google arachnophobia, but I was turned off by the pictures of spiders on the screen that popped up.
It’s a new year and a new decade. This year flew by once again, even faster than the previous. I feel so much older as each year whips by; time only speeds up. But as I reflect on last year and even the entire last decade, I realize I have come a long way. I have changed a lot. Thus, I am excited to see what this new decade will bring.
I can still remember when the minute ticker turned to 12 in the year 2000. There was the giant Y2k scare that had people stocking up on food and water due to the fear that a computer bug would render systems broken and cause the worldwide economy to dive. The governments thankfully worked on the computer systems and rectified these problems before the clock hit12, so the scare never materialized.
This decade, we have the 2012 scare that the world is going to end. I guess this decade will trump the previous in terms of fear, but hopefully this fear will never materialize either. I would be quite disappointed to realize that only a few months after I graduate from college, I would not be able to do anything.
But I am still excited to think of where I will be by 2020. I will have finished college, medical school, and residency, and hopefully have a permanent job some where. I may even have started my own family! Currently, it is inconceivable to think that in only ten years, so much will change in my life, but as I said, time only speeds up and increasingly allows all the events to jumble together. Nevertheless, I am excited to see the changes in society, including technology, in a decade.
Reflecting on the past decade, I know that I have changed tremendously. I had finished elementary school, middle school, and high school. I have learned to become more outgoing and I have realized how much I can push myself when I really want something. I embraced the blooming of the Internet and grow both more surprised and accepting as the Internet changes faster each year. To think, only five years ago, having a blog was new and novel. High contrast website designs that irritated the eyes were also the “in” thing. Ten years ago, we either did not have Internet or were on the slowest form of dial-up. I remember the fond days of waiting two minutes for a webpage to load; I never understood at that time what was so good about the Internet. I would always wonder how my dad had the patience to sit in front of the computer to read a news article instead of having fun by doing something active. I think we all know why now.
As years go by, we will only learn more and see even greater changes. Flying cars? Maybe it will occur this decade.
I don’t know if resolutions are a good thing for me. I have never been able to follow anything that I write down, from schedules to goals to these resolutions. I do have certain priorities and I reach for them, but I never give these lists a second glance. I hope this year will be different, since I would like to accomplish the resolutions I have set out.
- Get straight As next semester and next fall semester (this is not only a goal, but it’s needed; I have messed up the previous few semesters)
- Aim for a 42, but get at least a 38 on the MCATs. So, study hard!
- Cut down on movie watching. One movie per week is enough.
- Cut down on television watching: only follow Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and sometimes Glee. Three hours should be plenty.
- Lose 10 pounds and gain more muscle. My face has become rounder since the beginning of this school year; I am falling prey to the freshman 15, even though I am no longer a freshman.
- Eat healthier; do not gorge on unhealthy foods in the dining hall. Eat more greens and veggies. Cut down to eating just one junk-type food per day.
- Exercise! Do at least 50 sit-ups per day.
- Participate in Project 365 and actually finish it. I tried earlier this year and failed miserably–took a few photos the first three days and then drifted off. Only the first three days!
- Revive my blog: post something interesting at least every other day and improve how I write. Instead of going with my stream of consciousness, refine my writing so that I would be proud that it reflects me.
- Make new friends. Friends reflect who you are, and I am easily influenced by people. Although my current friends are already great, I would like to branch out and make more friends from other fields.
Ten resolutions for the year 2010. I wonder if I will be able to fulfill them. I hope so, since they do not seem to be that much. So, tonight, I will get a good night’s sleep after all the festivities and I hope tomorrow will be a bright new day for me: a new day to start these new resolutions.
