Category: retirement

  • Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

    Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

    Here’s another vintage post from around a decade ago after my former Psychiatry Dept chairperson, Dr. Robert G. Robinson and I published our book, Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry” in 2010. Blog: Who Gets The Credit? When I think about peak moments, I remember this guy back in junior high school who decided…

  • Slow Progress with Juggle Behind the Back Trick

    Slow Progress with Juggle Behind the Back Trick

    About a month ago, I made a YouTube video showing my miserable performance trying to do the throw behind the back juggling trick. I have been practicing nearly every day since. I’m still not able to do the trick and integrate it into the 3-ball cascade. On the other, I’ve gone from zero percent to…

  • Old and Busted Juggling Balls

    Old and Busted Juggling Balls

    As you may know, I started juggling in mid-October. The Learn to Juggle kit came with 3 balls. After practicing for over a month and a half, they are old and busted. The seams are splitting and the granules are flying out, as they smack my hands or hit the floor, computer, walls, and other…

  • University of Iowa Psychiatry Residents Get Shout Outs

    University of Iowa Psychiatry Residents Get Shout Outs

    Recently, University of Iowa psychiatry residents worked hard enough to get shout outs. One of them was exemplary performance on the consultation and emergency room service. The service was following over two dozen inpatients and received 15 consultation requests in a day. This is a staggering number and the resident on the service did the…

  • What Would Make Psychiatry More Fun?

    What Would Make Psychiatry More Fun?

    I just read Dr. George Dawson’s post “Happy Labor Day” published August 31, 2022. As usual, he’s right on the mark about what makes it very difficult to enjoy psychiatric practice. And then, I looked on the web for anything on Roger Kathol, MD, FACLP. There’s a YouTube video of my old teacher on the…

  • Thoughts on Doctors Going On Strike

    Thoughts on Doctors Going On Strike

    I read Dr. H. Steven Moffic’s two articles in Psychiatric Times about the strike by mental health workers at Northern California Kaiser Permanente (August 16 and 26, 2022). So far, no psychiatrists have joined the strike. However, this piqued my interest in whether psychiatrists or general physicians have ever gone on strike. I have a…

  • Countdown to Hot Water Heater Replacement

    Countdown to Hot Water Heater Replacement

    Well, even though our hot water heater was temporarily fixed, there is no guarantee that it won’t fail again between now and later this week. That’s when we’re scheduled to have the new water heater installed That will cost approximately 10 billion dollars. This item will be the major selling point for our house because…

  • Thoughts on the Song “Against the Wind”

    Thoughts on the Song “Against the Wind”

    A couple of days ago, while we were playing cribbage, Sena asked me who sang the song “Against the Wind.” I offered a name, which later turned out to be wildly wrong. It bugged her so much she got up from the cribbage game and went to the computer to look it up. Of course,…

  • Thoughts on the GuideLink Center Incident

    Thoughts on the GuideLink Center Incident

    The attack a few days ago by what was most likely a mentally ill person on staff at the recently opened GuideLink Center in Iowa City reminded me of what may appear to be disparate views by mental health professionals on the link between mental illness and mass violence perpetrators. The GuideLink incident involved a…

  • Replacing a Two-Hole Faucet

    Replacing a Two-Hole Faucet

    I’m the least handy person on the planet. If I can replace a two-hole faucet, then even Bigfoot can do it. Replacing the two-hole faucet is probably one of the easiest DIY jobs you can do. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a problem or two with it. When you get to the step in…