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Celebrate Black History Month
February is Black History Month. Celebrate it with respect for one another.
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An Old Dog’s Approach to Replacing Electrical Outlets and Other Thoughts
Since retirement, I’ve been very gradually casting about for another identity now that I’ve given up my professional identity. It doesn’t come naturally. I’m definitely not a handyman, although I’ve been learning a few skills. For some reason, a large number of our electrical outlets didn’t hold power cords tightly enough. They were either cheap…
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Retiree Musings
I’ve just discovered a web site that calculates the time that has passed since an event occurred. So, it calculated that I’ve been retired for 19 months—or 580 days, or 13,909 hours and so on. But I’m not counting. What has been happening since then? I’ve had the usual problems with letting go of my…
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Brief Reflections on N95 Masks
The free N95 masks are here. It’s 3M Model Aura 9205+and they’re available in many stores, including Hy-Vee and Walgreens. I occasionally failed the fit test using this type of mask when I was working at the hospital; however, you can still get a pretty effective seal to make it protective in the community (see…
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Journey to the Center of the Snore
Sena and I snore. There, I said it. We’ve been snoring for years. It’s been getting a little worse for a while now and we’re finally exploring ways to deal with it. I snore by puffing out my cheeks and blowing, and Sena snores by blowing the pictures off the walls. The separate bedrooms option…
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Dr. Feranmi Okanlami MLK Distinguished Lecture
Today, Dr. Feranmi Okanlami, MD, MS, director of student accessibility and accommodation services at the University of Michigan, delivered the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Lecture: “Disabusing Disabilities.” It was sponsored by the University of Iowa. I attended Dr. Okanlami’s lecture by Zoom. I noticed he was wearing a handsomely carved wooden bow tie, which I don’t…
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MLK Human Rights Week 2022: Transforming Ourselves and Others
Sena and I thought today’s Zoom presentation “Racial Perspectives on the Institution of Medicine” by Director and Chair of Emergency Medicine Jenice Baker, MD, from Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia was fascinating. It was an early feature of Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Human Rights week. This presentation stimulated a long discussion between us.…
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Legacy Blogger
I just found out today that my blog’s theme was retired. I don’t know when WordPress retired it, but it gives me a familiar feeling about retirement. Sena gets the credit for giving me the idea of changing the theme (which is how my blog looks on the web) because of the new year. As…
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Take a Cup of Kindness and Say Goodbye to 2021
It’s been a quiet day around here. It’s New Year’s Eve. I got a great message from a former resident who has started his own Psychiatry Consultation Fellowship training program in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Paul Thisayakorn and his wife are welcoming 2022 with their 2 lovely children and hoping 2022 will be a better year,…
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My Definitive Journey Revisited
A couple of days ago, I got my retirement gift from The University of Iowa. It’s a about a year and a half late because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it’s welcome nonetheless. Normally there is an Annual Faculty Retirement Dinner, but it had to be cancelled. It’s a stunningly beautiful engraved crystal bowl with…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 