Fitness

Hell yeah!

Hit up DD's happy hour. It's like, the best thing on earth. You'd think that with my intense sugar cravings at times, the filled doughnut (2nd column) would be the best, but no! I've been jonesin' for some Cruelers/Kruelers these days. They're quite magical.

Next time you get one, bite into it to make a radial cut and peer inside. It looks like there's butter lining the walls! Then you start to wonder - damn. That's why it's so good. Being all satisfied with your own reasoning (just by looking at it), you test it out. You take that theory, which is probably about 99% correct, and get that 1% of empirical tactile evidence. So you stick your tongue out to taste the butter, BUT IT'S ALL SOLID. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS WITCHCRAFT.

Seriously though, happy hour kicks ass. The Japanese have a way of describing rain and snow, using the verb "furu", which means "fall from heaven" (historically). Indeed, happy hour ga futta.

Actually, before I found out about boon, I've been hitting a few gyms in Plano, being away from my convenient (but painfully small) apartment gym. I figure I'd just do the 7 day membership trials on each one.

But, let's be real, this is not some expose. I've only been to 2 Plano area gyms.

LA Fitness:
Very nice, 2-story facility. It seemed like their machines were customized for LA Fitness. Wide variety of machines. Full blown snack/juice bar (even though I'm a bit wary of all the booster powders they throw in). Also, had a friendly staff that didn't creep me out. I suppose the only con was that it's kind of south of my comfort zone to still keep calling it Plano. (It's near the Bush tollway).

Cost: Apparently, $30 a month. (!!!)

Vibe: Urban professionals who work out after work and semi-retired* people pumping some serious weights (much more than me).**

24 Hour Fitness:
A seriously ghetto place. I saw 2 people on staff there, both equally creepy. People kept dropping weights all over the place. What's with the mirrors on every wall? Even the pillars? Seesh. The machines were clunky and there's a limited variety. People keep dropping weights all over the place. Did I mention that already? That was seriously annoying. The parking lot made me worry for my vehicle.

Cost: About the same, $30 a month.

Vibe: Gangbangers who were pumping up for their "hits" and drug deals later in the day.***

The biggest problem is really, that I left my gloves in my apartment.

*: Retired people who realize that they still contribute to the world. Hard to define, easy to spot. Kind of like pornography.
**: Sigh.
***: I've been watching The Sopranos these days. I'm starting to talk like them. However, New Jersey still sucks. And always will. What an armpit of a state. Kind of like Austin. Fuck austin.

Clowns (painful FAIL)

Everyone knows that bustling community to the north (Frisco) is full of crap. All new developments, a hospital with a pathetic emergency center*, built around commercialism, which amounts to sucking North/West Plano's money.

Naturally, that city is full of clowns capitalizing on the cheap real estate. (There's a reason why it's cheap, I just haven't figured it out.)

Also, (naturally) clowns drive like shit. I was backing up (relatively carefully) and there was no one there in the rear view (I checked the camera and the mirror) so I kept backing up, checking my sides when - BAM!



This clown came out of nowhere! I realize "that's what they all say", but honestly, if you see someone backing up (aka, backup lights are on) DON'T PASS BEHIND THEM, ASSHOLE.

I've had to slam on my brakes for countless people that think they can snake past. Fry's Electronics is notorious for people trying to snake past. This one didn't get by.

I don't think the idiot even knew that parking lot fender benders are equal liability accidents.


I've blacked out my license plate #, in case you were wondering.

Ugh! What a painful accident. I ended up with a few paint scratches. His ugly corolla had a nicely carved metal dent. Guess which one costs more to fix! Maybe you'll keep your eyes open next time, clown.

I could have been more careful. $230 to fix. There's a story on that, too -

I went to Maaco to ask about the paint touchup job. I had my Accord repainted there a few years ago for about $700 or so. I get a quote that's $680!** So I ask him - it costs you $700 to paint the entire car, but you're going to charge almost just as much for a touch up?

He went into some explanation about the paints being different, etc, etc. Also, kind of with an attitude. Come on, it's 830AM, and you're already irritated? Was that such an unreasonable question anyway? I know nothing about paint.

I then went to Park Place Lexus and they gave me a quote for $230. Much more reasonable (I guess...?).

I can also stick around and consume all the Mountain Dew / cookies / coffee / newspapers I want, instead of sit in a waiting room-attached-to-the-sales-office and get charged 50 cents for a can of Shasta cola.

Fuck Maaco.

*: Plano has 4 (MCP/Presby/Baylor/Children's). WIN!

In fact, Frisco's medical services are so pathetic, they have more animal hospitals than human hospitals. Good god.

**: I have another car-repair story I'll write about soon.

Colors*

I was in one of those pretentious Central Market-ish stores** and I wasn't going to buy anything. Hell, I wouldn't know what to do with half of them. A few things are interesting. Newflower sells things like solar powered cell phone chargers (very tempting, except for the $80 price) and stuff.

Even still, nothing except the honey roasted peanuts called to me. I started getting bored, so I tried something new.

All those pretentious hippie (but really, not) labels are so colorful. So I just took it all in. Just focused on the colors, not the text. It's interesting. Sort of like being in a foreign country.

I think we spend so much time reading text that we forget to look at the strategically placed colored backgrounds and nuances.

*: Great song:



I'm going pretty crazy with this rediscovered 'embed' feature.

**: Hard to describe. Sprouts is kind of like one. Central Market for sure. "Newflower" on Preston Rd. is another one.

Back to The Sopranos.

Ice cream.

Does it really go bad, having been in the freezer since January 17?
More importantly, why has no one eaten it since then? (Dutch Chocolate!)

I consulted Yahoo Questions.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060611201556AAcSQqM

I then read the comments to amuse myself. I learned that "ice goes bad too" and "it will taste like frozen plastic."

It bugs me a little that I'm eating something described to have "freezer burn" and "frost bite" on it. It really does taste gummy though.

That reminds me. I remember a long time ago when school started, everything just looked like one big mush to me. "Parenchyma" or "mesenchyme" as people called it. It seemed like there were a few important things in this bag of water people called a human body, and the rest of it was just mush, filler, gunk, etc.

I suppose it's expected for this to change. It has. Although, fat still looks like gunk. Whatever. Enjoy the picture of the gummy ice cream.



That's my hand, near the top.

What a senile post. This is the kind of useless shit I've been doing over break. Talking about ice cream and taking pictures of my hand. I'm bored. When is class going to start already.

I'll fuss about something tomorrow.

Rockstars

Man I love this commercial:

The Chinese one? Not so good. Pretty horrible actually. He has masked facies like a Parkinson's patient. What did he invent to have such a smug look?

I was in the ER the other day (not as a patient)* and the first time the attending** chooses to remember my name, she yells "Glove up! and get ready to tradeoff on compressions!"

A second later I felt a light jab in my stomach - a nurse handed me a pair of gloves. It's too bad they called it before I had a chance to get in.

Mid-40s, MVA, respiratory and cardiovascular collapse, they were doing CPR for about 20 minutes. The thing is, MVAs come in all the time. Trauma rooms are populated all the time. If you really want to know if something serious is going down, look for the religious liason standing outside.

*: I used to ask "Have you ever been to the hospital before?" in my interviews. After a few interviews, I started adding "as a patient". Somehow, "hospitalized" sounds too clunky and serious, like they took a trip through the ICU or something.

**: Rockstars.

Videos on break

Pardon the imaginative title.

Year 1 of med school ends. I don't feel any different.



I was watching this video of MJ. I think "Beat it" and this song are the only ones I actually like. Someone the other day said that it was "all about the package"* and I was trying to figure that out. The dancing/singing/performance act.

Well. People need to calm the fuck down. I'll admit, it was a good performance. I just can't see myself going that crazy for an artist.

Probably the most annoying set of videos I've ever watched has CNET's Brian Tong on it. He hosts this segment on CNET called "Prizefight" Here's a clip:



Congratulations, douchebag! You look like a small animal. The kind I stress my suspension over trying to avoid on the highway, but probably shouldn't. I just can't take anything you say seriously. Probably due to the fact you look like one of those IC2 assholes.**

I realize the AzN thing was a fad a long time ago. It's over. Seriously. Flatten down the hair and act civilized. Also, your vehicles are weak. Tong should use his "skills" to photoshop himself into the "You Got Beef?" music video. Preferably into one of those really fly Dodge Neons.

lol. Rappers.

*: There's a kiddie porn joke somewhere in there.
**: I have not been able to figure out what exactly they do.

Start out the summer with a BANG!

Quite literally. Yesterday I was coming up a flight of stairs, pretty
quickly, preoccupied with a few things. Well. My leg got caught.

And I have a meeting at 1pm.

DDx:
Ligament damage (95%)
Talar fracture (5%)

My parents want to come down and baby me. I hve a ton of shit to do
too, so that might be convenient. But damn.

I'll do it by myself.

LAME.