karlmd's posterous http://karlmd.posterous.com An extension of Chronicles of Boredom posterous.com Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:35:29 -0700 Death and Lessons from Google http://karlmd.posterous.com/death-and-lessons-from-google http://karlmd.posterous.com/death-and-lessons-from-google I have a confession to make: I google-stalked someone today.

It all started out like this...

“Code! Code!,” someone screamed even before he was through the double swing doors of the critical care area of the ER I was manning about a week ago. The orderlies and triage nurse rushed through the doors pushing in a stretcher containing the limp body of a young man. As we’re programmed to do, we started resuscitation on the patient. While the code team was pounding away at his chest and continued to give life-saving medication through his vein, I had started the interview with the family to document what had led to the patient’s present condition. It was then that I realized that the patient was vaguely familiar to me. The patient was in his early twenties and he’d been in and out of the hospital for a hematologic malignancy. He’d undergone chemotherapy and radiation but remained sick. The latest development, and this I only found out that night, was that the cancer had already spread to his brain and the tumor wasn’t responding to radiation. I never knew the patient personally and had only seen him once or twice, but his name was familiar. After about an hour of resuscitation, we had explained to the family that continued resuscitation efforts will be futile. The father was trying to compose himself but had agreed to stop the code. It was over, confirmed by the flat green line on the cardiac monitor. The nurses and orderlies started turning off drips and unplugging equipment. The lifeless body of the young man was perfunctorily cleaned and wrapped in a shroud, in preparation for the morgue. This scenario is not unusual at the ER and it happens almost everyday in the hospital. I was used to it. Just another day at work. It was a sad day to be sure, but just another day all the same.

This morning, some Facebook messages reminded me about that patient. Some of the floor nurses that had been friends with the young man had posted their goodbyes on their closed Facebook group. This piqued my interest and that’s when I started my google search. The patient was an athlete and a student. I found pictures of him horsing around with friends, a genuine smile on his lips. One photo was of the patient with another friend, in sepia, both of them wearing barongs and looking up smiling at the camera. The pictures were accompanied by a blog entry by one of the patient’s close friends and through it, I caught a glimpse of a vibrant young man, about to begin his adventure in the world. In the article, the friend reminisced about their 9 years of friendship and lamented that he had lost a brother.

After one has done countless of codes and resuscitations, after many failed intubations and seemingly intractable arrhythmias, after handling the patient with stubborn low blood pressure that just wouldn’t go up after 5 vasopressors, it’s easy in Medicine to steel oneself from the realities entwined with one’s patient. It’s easy to detach oneself from all the drama and just focus on getting back a heartbeat or a breath, or even a continuous spike of electrical activity on the EKG. On some level, health care providers need to be removed from the emotion-laden realities of our patients so we can focus on the medical aspect, the main area we are called to address. We need to think and think quick. There is also the factor of seeing something too often that it becomes rote. Death and dying is such an integral part of the hospital, especially as a resident, and especially at the ER. While each doctor and each health care provider will have a short list of memorable anecdotes about memorable patients, my google search reminded me that every single patient I see, whether at the ER, the floors, or outside the hospital, each one of them has a network of people who love them and will for certain be affected by any decision, wrong or right, I make in the patient’s behalf. In the hustle and bustle of the ER, such an obvious and instinctive thing can easily get lost, buried under piles of academic steel and medical jargon. My patient’s death reminded me that death is painful for those left behind and the grieving process for the family extends far beyond the confines of that little room I man in the ER. For us doctors, tomorrow means more patients to see and help get better. For my dead patient’s family, it means an empty bed and a quiet bedroom, a brother gone too soon, and one more grave to visit.

Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:51:12 -0700 Twentysomething No More http://karlmd.posterous.com/twentysomething-no-more http://karlmd.posterous.com/twentysomething-no-more
Twentysomething

One of my all-time favorite albums is that one by Jamie Cullum, entitled "Twentysomething." As I celebrated my birthday yesterday, the album came to my mind as I realized I officially am no longer a part of that twentysomething population. I still am surprised when children born in the 1990s, the little kids of my youth, are wheeled in to the ER as adult patients. When did they grow up to be adults? More importantly, when did I grow up?

As a little boy, I looked up to my kuyas and ates, twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, and I thought of them as Adults, spelled with a capital A, mature, self-sufficient, grown-up. It may be that I just wasn't privy to their personal struggles and issues but as I look at myself and my generation, I may have had, as a child, a too idealistic picture of being a grown-up. I don't feel like the grown-up I built up in my mind. I am immature, a hothead prone to temper tantrums, impatient, at times irrational. And as I look around me, every other adult I know is the same way, just in varying quantities of childishness.

I find it a little bit funny and a little bit depressing to ruminate on the fact that I am no longer a twentysomething. I haven't been able to fully wrap my head around living life as a thirty year old man. I don't know if I'm going through some form of delayed quarter life crisis but I've never had a birthday before when my age bothered me as much as this birthday. Thirty. Three zero. Such a round number. I don't feel like I'm thirty.

My preoccupation with my age-change should not be taken as a lack of zest or as fearfulness of the future. I face tomorrow headstrong, with my pack of dreams, filled to the brim, slung over my shoulder. I aim to leave my mark on this earth, and I mean to do it as excellently as I could and by the grace and blessing of the Lord.

It is a strange thing to be, thirty. But it's not so bad. Goodbye Twentysomething. It's been a great decade. But I'm positive the next one will be even better.

Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:36:35 -0800 Clichés and the End of R1 Year http://karlmd.posterous.com/cliches-and-the-end-of-r1-year http://karlmd.posterous.com/cliches-and-the-end-of-r1-year It has become a cliché to say that something you’ve been waiting for seemed to have arrived sooner than expected. “As if it was only yesterday that we were starting our residency training” is a statement I will not agree with. This year seemed to have passed too slowly and the end could not have come sooner. I am happy to report that I learned a lot this year, not only about Internal Medicine but also about the more important thing in my profession: interpersonal relationships. I learned that people handle stress in many different ways and sometimes, one needs to let things slide to attain some form of peace. I also learned the value of being quick to apologize and admit error. I quickly averted several potential disasters just by immediately admitting my mistake and promising to do better next time. It’s a work in progress but I’m slowly getting a handle on my temper and my impatience with incompetence, as I realize that I am incompetent more times than I care to admit, and in worse ways. Something Dr. Bengzon once said struck me and I think about it every time a patient (or family member) poses a “challenge”: our patients remind us of our humanity. We are all impatient, difficult, cranky, and demanding at one point or another. We are all apprehensive about death and disease, albeit in variable degrees. These thoughts help me to maintain my composure, take a quick breath, and move on with my work.

This year, I also learned some good Medicine, mostly from the people who took the time to teach. We all had virtually no time to read Harrinson’s so we were mostly learning by leeching: “leeching rounds,” as one pre-resident put it. At one point, I was reading ECG tracings from a treadmill stress test and I remembered the time when I was a clerk and I was so impressed by the cardiology fellows who seemed to have read these same tracings as if it were a book, almost efortlessly. My clerkship self would be proud of my resident self, I think.

The learning was there. But the learning came with a huge price tag. Late nights, sleepless nights, missed time with family and friends ... the list is substantial. The way I coped, however, was to always have my long term goals in mind. As another cliché goes, I “kept my eye on the prize.” I knew that sooner or later, R1 year would be over and I’d be moving on to more challenging stuff. But I’d be MOVING on and that means, pretty soon, the entire ordeal of residency would soon be over. The Lord has shown me grace upon grace this year and my friend Angel, just tonight, reminded me of how undeserving I am of the favor I received from Him. He has been my source of strength, my source of peace, and the One who stretched my limits even more when I thought I had nothing else to give. He has given me an excellent set of duty mates (and now great friends) the past few months. He has sustained me through the most toxic of duty nights and has given me wisdom enough that I don’t have screw-ups that endangered any of my patients’ lives. As an added bonus, I get to do something I love more than medicine: teach. It might well be my only drive to read and study up on my cases.

I may be looking back and seeing things through rose-colored lenses because I am at a high right now: it is my last day as an R1 (and all its accompanying baggage, like DS!) and I had a pretty good dinner (more like excellent, really). But as I remember the year that has passed, it strikes me as being an over-all very positive year. And this makes me extremely happy. If you will notice the description I post about myself in my blog: “An occasional writer whose current preoccupation is getting through medical training unscathed and unjaded.” I may have been scathed and stung the past year but I am as unjaded and enthusiastic about my work as the day I first started last year, considering everything that has happened. The ER and hemodialysis (and many more R2 issues) may quite possibly kill the buzz. But I say, bring it on.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:09:47 -0700 An Encounter with an Old Mentor http://karlmd.posterous.com/an-encounter-with-an-old-mentor http://karlmd.posterous.com/an-encounter-with-an-old-mentor I saw my old med school mentor the other day. He was with his family at the photo printers. I was about to have my picture taken when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him looking expectantly at me, like he knew I would recognize him. And I did. He's gained some weight but he seemed more cheerful and relaxed than when he did his rounds at the hospital way back then. I approached him and cheerfully said hello and asked him how he was. He asked me why I was still in Manila (he knew about my plans to leave for the US). I told him the plans fell through. Pleasantries. It was a timely meeting for several reasons.

I remember that on my med school graduation, I sent him a thank you letter where I said I considered him one of my mentors. But to be honest, I don't know if he fits the description of mentor. We weren't exactly close and I don't think he necessarily thinks of me a protege but ever since I met him in sophomore year, I knew I wanted to develop in myself the same love for teaching that he so generously exudes. He was very tough and most of my classmates were terrified of him. But I saw through the tough mantle and knew that at the core, he just loved to see his students understand medicine. My encounter with him was timely because I am at a point where I have started becoming involved in some form of teaching. And seeing him again after so many years reminded me of how much time he spent with the students and that, in a smaller scale, the same is expected of me. I do not aim to emulate his technique. A lot of students find his ways too abrasive. His passion for teaching, his concern and love for learning, these are the things I find inspiring in him. And I guess these are also the reasons why, in some small way, I can look up to him as one of my mentors.

Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:53:46 -0800 I witnessed the sunset today at Manila Bay and it was gorgeous. Too bad I didn't have a good camera with me at the time. http://karlmd.posterous.com/i-witnessed-the-sunset-today-at-manila-bay-an http://karlmd.posterous.com/i-witnessed-the-sunset-today-at-manila-bay-an Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:39:25 -0700 Daydreaming at Starbucks http://karlmd.posterous.com/daydreaming-at-starbucks http://karlmd.posterous.com/daydreaming-at-starbucks I cracked open John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath the other night. I bought it from a used-books store a few weeks ago, right when I was halfway done with East of Eden. For the first time, I noticed the writing on the book's inside front cover. In fat and neat American print, someone wrote "Tuan Grogman Mrs. K. C-24."

Someone, somewhere used to own this volume. As I sit here nursing my latte, my mind's eye starts spinning.

The image I have is of a classroom in a public middle school somewhere in the US, Kansas perhaps, or Arkansas. Mrs. K, a stout, bespectacled, little lady with curly grey-streaked white hair, hobbles into C-24, a class of eighth-graders. She is dressed in a white blouse with a lacy collar and a long skirt with small floral prints. Around her neck is a thin gold necklace. She squeaks more than speaks in her high-pitched grandmotherly voice, but most of her students pay attention.

Tuan Grogman sits on the third row from the front, right by the window. He is a thin boy with a shock of uncombed golden brown hair that cover his ears. Today, he wears the last pair of clean blue jeans he has, along with a striped blue and yellow shirt and tattered used-to-be-white sneakers. He squints at Mrs. K. He doesn't like wearing his glasses.

Judging by the condition of the book I'm holding, he hasn't read the assigned chapter. Instead, under his Trapper-Keeper, he has the Cliff Notes open. In the fat and neat American print I am familiar with, he writes a final few words on the paper summarizing Chapters 1-10. He takes the sheaf of papers the pretty girl behind is passing to him, places his paper at the very bottom of the pile, and hands everything to the kid in front of him.

Mrs. K collects the homework and keeps it in her folder. She sits down and in her tiny voice begins to talk about Tom Joad. Tuan Grogman looks to his left. He sees the open green fields, the grass swaying and the leaves of the trees shuffling along with the soft breeze. It is mid-afternoon and school is almost done for the day. He begins to daydream.
Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:53:10 -0700 East of Eden http://karlmd.posterous.com/east-of-eden-2 http://karlmd.posterous.com/east-of-eden-2 New entry at Chronicles of Boredom.

http://karlmd.blogspot.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:57:27 -0700 New entry at Chronicles of Medical Residency http://bit.ly/1iobOJ http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-entry-at-chronicles-of-medical-residency-0 http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-entry-at-chronicles-of-medical-residency-0 http://imresidentdoc.blogspot.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:53:58 -0700 Code #1 http://karlmd.posterous.com/code-1 http://karlmd.posterous.com/code-1 New entry at Chronicles of Medical Residency.

http://imresidentdoc.blogspot.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:30:19 -0700 New entry at Chronicles of Medical Residency: First Day and On Call. http://imresidentdoc.blogspot.com http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-entry-at-chronicles-of-medical-residency http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-entry-at-chronicles-of-medical-residency Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:24:30 -0700 New Blog: Chronicles of Medical Residency http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-blog-chronicles-of-medical-residency http://karlmd.posterous.com/new-blog-chronicles-of-medical-residency While my main blog, Chronicles of Boredom, is still active, I have decided to officially start a blog called Chronicles of Medical Residency. All medicine- and residency-related posts will appear on the latter website and all other boredom and general interest posts will appear on the former. I hope you can all visit the new site soon: http://imresidentdoc.blogspot.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:14:11 -0700 Thoughts on Dinner at Fuente Osmena http://karlmd.posterous.com/thoughts-on-dinner-at-fuente-osmena http://karlmd.posterous.com/thoughts-on-dinner-at-fuente-osmena There's something, umm ... weirdly romantic about having dinner alone at a Jollibee on Fuente Osmena. I think it has something to do with feeling out of place, a foreigner, while the entire world of the locals continues to revolve and move forward. It's the amused smile of the counter attendant as she hears the different language spoken; she realizes that I'm out of place and that I know it. It may also be because of the fact that I look exactly like the people around me, down to the flat nose and brown skin, and yet they live in a different world than mine. They speak a language vastly different and yet on some plane, completely understandable. It may be the way the lights on the street twinkle differently and how the cars that move along the large, busy rotunda move in a more disciplined way than I am used to.

 Or it may be just me romanticizing my somewhat pathetic excuse for a dinner: sweet, red, hotdog-laden spaghetti, a small cheese-less burger with a generous dollop of pink mayonnaise, and greasy fries without the ketchup.
Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:49:31 -0700 The hotel I'm staying in... http://karlmd.posterous.com/the-hotel-im-staying-in http://karlmd.posterous.com/the-hotel-im-staying-in
Img00052-20090914-1134

serves "breakfast." Hmmm.
 
Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:44:54 -0700 Unbelievable http://karlmd.posterous.com/unbelievable-106 http://karlmd.posterous.com/unbelievable-106
Img00051-20090907-1328

For quite some time, I've noticed one or two ladies walking around the Robinson's Galleria branch of Burger King, wearing scrub suits with the BK name tag on them. I've always assumed they were hired to clean up tables after customers. Just today, I found out that they offer backrubs and hand and neck massages to customers. I find that strangely inappropriate. And weird.
 
The photographic evidence will appear somewhere on this post. Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:37:00 -0700 Twelve Things I Learned from Pixar's Up http://karlmd.posterous.com/twelve-things-i-learned-from-pixars-up http://karlmd.posterous.com/twelve-things-i-learned-from-pixars-up

(I doubt you can consider some of these points spoilers but consider yourselves warned...)

  1. Plastic garden hoses are made of very, very strong stuff. 
  2. Old men in canes are also almost as strong, apparently. 
  3. It is possible to rip wooden houses off of their foundations, with just the right amount of helium-filled balloons, and can be made to fly across two continents. 
  4. We all know that babies are delivered to their mommies by storks. What we didn't previously know is that all babies, human or animal, are made by chubby, cuddly, smiley Clouds (capital C) who delicately sculpt clouds (lowercase c) and electrify them into life. 
  5. If you don't want the magic to fade, you never want to spend more than a few hours with a person you idolize or highly respect. If you do, you find out sooner or later that they are faulty humans too. 
  6. It is possible for childhood friends to become lifelong partners. 
  7. Dreams and ambitions are good things to have but one must not forget to live out life in the process. Obsessing over our dreams may make us miss what made our lives the most meaningful, the most real, and the most happy. 
  8. Sometimes, the most boring things in life are what we cherish the most. 
  9. Unachieved dreams don't necessarily translate to failure. 
  10. The best way to go through life is to have your very own Adventure Book. Mine come in small, black notebooks called Moleskines. 
  11. No matter how old we get, as long as we have breath, there will always be new adventures for us to experience. 
  12. Growing old can be quite an adventure in itself. 

 
Looking back through my 28 years of existence, I have no other way to describe it but as an adventure. Until recently, I've lived a mostly boring life; it was usually just about school, family, and church. But then I remember Lesson #8 and I realize I wouldn't change a thing, given the chance. As I look forward to the coming years, I'm sure the sovereign Lord has more in store for me. I know some events will be sad, some will be painful, and a good chunk will be happy. But each event should be taken as an adventure given as a gift by the Creator of Adventure. Each thing that occurs in our lives happen because He allowed it and He has a purpose for it, a place for it in the grander scheme of things. Each must be cherished and treasured, the most striking recorded into our Adventure Books. I look forward to having more adventures with my Lord. I still have many dreams and ambitions and I still want many things. But by the grace of God, I live each day trusting that He wants His absolute perfect best for me, which may not necessarily mean what I want for myself, and that He will lead me there.
 
Everyone must go see Up. It's an especially great movie to see on one's birthday.
 
It was, indeed, a happy 28th birthday for me, a happy 28 years that have passed.

Soli Deo Gloria.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:47:32 -0700 To celebrate my 28th birthday ... http://karlmd.posterous.com/to-celebrate-my-28th-birthday http://karlmd.posterous.com/to-celebrate-my-28th-birthday I unwrapped and cracked open a brand new Moleskine! This will be my new journal for the next year, chronicling my 29th year of existence. I can't wait to fill its pages. A decent birthday post is forthcoming.

Img00046-20090818-2153

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:05:19 -0700 My latest blog entry: A Picture Exercise http://karlmd.posterous.com/my-latest-blog-entry-a-picture-exercise http://karlmd.posterous.com/my-latest-blog-entry-a-picture-exercise A look back through my (almost) 28 years of existence. Posted on my main blog.

 http://bit.ly/vqVDH

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:21:09 -0700 The Philippines After Yesterday http://karlmd.posterous.com/the-philippines-after-yesterday http://karlmd.posterous.com/the-philippines-after-yesterday We all watched as the staggering events unfolded on our television screens, if we weren't there on the streets ourselves. We saw the tears pour down the faces of President Corazon Aquino's family and friends and even strangers off the street. We saw the massive lines that snaked around La Salle Greenhills and the Manila Cathedral as people lined up for hours to pay their last respects to that lady in yellow. We were reminded by video clips on TV and on YouTube about the troubled past of our country and the miracle that restored our sense of nationalism and unity. Our collective grief and bereavement entranced the entire world even as the international press stood on the sidelines watching and writing about the outpouring of emotion and respect and sympathy, the likes of which were unseen in this country since the death of Ninoy. We have experienced it together and we have been united.

 So what happens tomorrow?

 The Aquino children will continue to mourn the loss of their mother and the Filipino people will remember, despite this nation's proven shortsightedness, how we have been transformed by the life of this lady. Inevitably, we will return to the routine of our lives as businessmen, teachers, lawyers, doctors, street vendors, journalists, beggars. The government will still be enmeshed in red tape, corruption, and personality and patronage politics. The activists will continue to stage rallies and demonstrations at the slightest hint of what they perceive to be injustice. Congress will still pass laws and conduct committee investigations on the most popular and TV-grabbing headlines of the day. And the majority of the people will still be that, the silent majority. All this is part of the workings of real democracy and the fallibility of human nature.

 That President Aquino restored democracy to our nation is above contestation. Students of Philippine history will know very well the stories about human rights abuses during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Some have sought to diminish the bloodstain on the strongman's hands by insisting that he was brilliant, that he was fighting against a Communist insurgency, and that it was his wife, Imelda, who was the rotten one. I say bull. And yet, even during the regime of President Aquino, there was widespread corruption in the lower levels of government, patronage politics still existed, and there were still people who hungered and were jobless. That corruption will always exist in one form or another in all types of governments around the world should also be a matter of fact. For those in our society who believe in God, we attribute this to the innate human condition called sin. However, corruption's persistence in our society should not stop us good citizens from fighting against it however way we can, and to ensure that we ourselves do not propagate its practice.

 I read an opinion piece by Alex Magno tonight, published on the Philippine Star. He concludes his essay with what I think is the best solution to the what-next question:

 "As we rebalance our sense of national community, we should soon understand that the task at hand is not one of finding new heroes to replace the ones we lost. We should soon understand that what we need now, in building a stable and reliable future for our people, is to build heroic institutions so that we do not rely on the extraordinary heroism of individuals."

 While in the course of our nation's story, we will witness the occasional heroic acts by extraordinary people not unlike Cory and Ninoy, we cannot keep expecting other people to sacrifice on our behalf. We must do our part to ensure that we have strong institutions in place, in government and out of, a tough and powerful framework against which we will build our futures on. For us common citizens, our first responsibility toward that end is to make sure we exercise our right and our freedom to cast that sacred ballot.

 Alex Magno's op-ed piece, "Post-Cory": http://bit.ly/au0YP

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:11:58 -0700 Using what meager Photoshop know-how I have... http://karlmd.posterous.com/using-what-meager-photoshop-know-how-i-have http://karlmd.posterous.com/using-what-meager-photoshop-know-how-i-have A few days ago, I tweeted this: http://bit.ly/1yn0Sl

 The attached graphic is what I came up with and to be honest, I'm a little proud of myself. I don't know much Photoshop tricks and had to scour the internet for tips, especially on making things look silvery. This will look decent on any letterhead, don't you think?

Ee_25_logo

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:46:15 -0700 Wanted: Moleskine #3 http://karlmd.posterous.com/wanted-moleskine-3 http://karlmd.posterous.com/wanted-moleskine-3
Img00043-20090803-1739

I need to buy a new small, plain moleskine in the next two weeks. Two years ago, I started a tradition to crack open a new moleskine on my birthday. I'm on my second moleskine this year and am about to start on my third one for 2009-2010. I expect that by the time I'm 40, I'll have 15 of these little black books on my shelf, enough material for a few chapters of the autobiography I plan to write. (Hah!) By then too, I hope to be writing with a 'big boy' fountain pen, rather than the starter pen I am currently using, a black Waterman Phileas I purchased on ebay a few months ago for $22.
 
I have always kept a journal since I was in high school. While I didn't write regularly until I was in college, I've always found the joy of recording my experiences using an actual pen and paper precious. I keep an electronic journal, using Journler, this nifty (and free!) Mac app I downloaded a couple of years ago. But Journler is for emergencies only, when I have no pen and (proper) paper. I've also written entries on coffee shop napkins, on the back of some of my books, and on the back of official receipts. I have some thoughts recorded on my blackberry's Memo Pad too. But for me, nothing beats writing on a good quality paper, using an excellent quality pen. Everyone should have a go at it sometime. It's really one of the simple joys of life one can easily experience.
 
Sent from a BB.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/101628/DSCN0089_2_2.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4aGcQfmyS7rb Karl Henson karlmd Karl Henson