Updates n\’ Stuff

(5 points to the first to explain why I put this picture here)

Lots of stuff is going on at this time, so I thought I would just do a buffet of various things.

ACP

First, I started writing for the ACP Internist blog.  No, I am not spreading myself out a whole lot more; a high percentage of my posts will just be re-posting of ones I have put here.  Today I put up the \”Open Letter to Consultants\” post that got me a lot of traffic when I was a newbie blogger.  The ACP (American College of Physicians) is the professional organization for internists, of which I am a member.

I have been interviewed by them regarding social networking as it applies to the internist, and will appear in the upcoming issue of the ACP Observer, their monthly periodical.  Despite this fact, and despite the fact that they have read what I write, they invited me to write on their blog.  There is even a picture of a llama on the first post!

Whether this is some sort of aversion therapy for the members or simply a huge lapse in judgement on their part, I am honored to be part of their blogging team.

To add insult to (their) injury, I am also speaking at the ACP meeting coming up in Toronto (about EMR adoption).

Podcast

The podcast seems to be going well – I do enjoy writing the episodes, and have been ad libbing more during the recordings.  My only complaint is that feedback is sparse compared to the blog.  One of the nicest things about blogging (as I have mentioned before) is the immediate feedback to what you do.  I learned quickly what resonated with readers and what did not.  While not a slave to this feedback, it does help me to get it and so improve my writing.

Podcasting is not this way at all.  I have a vague idea as to how my podcast in general is accepted, but don\’t have a good mechanism to see what people think about each episode.  Hence, most of my refinements have been based on my own assessment.  I am really not sure how to fix this, but I may just have a weekly \”Rate this week\’s podcast\” widget on Facebook.

If anyone so desires, there are a number of widgets for the podcast (like the one on the right, although not necessarily that big) available on the podcast\’s homepage.

Rules

In case you didn\’t notice, I have two new menu items on top of the blog homepage.  The most popular post I ever did is my \”Doctor Rules\” that explains to docs how to be a good doc by understanding how the patient often feels.  This was followed by \”Patient Rules\” that gave patients the opposite perspective, although this was not as popular as the first.  If you have not seen these, they are now just a click away (like magic).

Random

When trying to get pictures to match with this post, I searched the term \”Crying Doctor\” and got the following pictures.  I am not sure if this is part of the cyber attack from China, but there does seem to be a little adjusting of the formula for finding websites.  They are nice pictures, though.

Yes, it\’s crying, but it is \”Hello Kitty\” not \”Hello Doctor.\”
Besides, these stand alongside Precious Moments in their role as minions of Satan (not \”Mignons,\” which is a cut of beef….although perhaps that might not be a bad thing to do with them….)

These kids always gave me the creeps.  I don\’t know why.  Perhaps I never felt I could measure up.

This picture leaves me speechless.  If you come up with a good caption, you may just get an award, though.