A Tale of Two Peoples

"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ..." Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, pg.1

Two weeks ago a Thai court overturned an extradition ruling for Ly Tong and made him a free man. For many people, they may say, "So what?" and they'd be right. Ly Tong is whom??

I would bet that most people in Vietnam don't know who he is. I would also bet that most older Vietnamese in America do know who he is. You see, Lý Tống has made a life trying to get the Vietnamese to rise up and throw off communism.

This message reverberates through Vietnamese-American communities. Most of the adults -- the older generation -- came to America as refugees after 1975. When they talk about Vietnam today, there is still sadness, a tinge of bitterness and invective, when refering to the current government. Over ten states and numerous communities in America have recognized the "Vietnamese Freedom and Heritage Flag" as the official flag of Vietnamese-Americans.

Also,organizations use it in their logos.

So you can see, that the war, democracy, and the hurt from years of fighting and exile from your homeland is still very much ingrained in the lives of Vietnamese-Americans today. I remember visiting a house of a man who had a big picture of Lý Tống on his wall and the words "FREEDOM FIGHTER" printed above it -- and I didn't think anything of it.



But this is a "Tale of Two Cities" so to speak. Before my first trip to Vietnam, I'd never been out of America except to the border towns across the Rio Grande in Mexico, and they don't really count. My only Vietnamese experience was with Vietnamese-Americans, so I naturally based my expectations on that prior experience. In other words, I half expected Vietnam to be a poor country where everyone lived in fear of the government, rushing to and fro quickly, speaking in hushed tones, and hiding as the police rode by.

In Ho Chi Minh City, I saw a different Vietnam--a Vietnam where people really came and went as they pleased. It was markedly more open than in the North, and NOTHING like what my naive brain had envisioned before I left America. The Vietnamese in Vietnam don't know or care about Lý Tống because they are satiated with what they have. Those in the North fought for the communists. They will not go against it. Those in the South are too happy not worrying about bombs, or standing in long lines for handouts, being in "reeducation camps," or buying things on the black market.

Economic prosperity has quieted the masses. People are happy because of the foreign investment, the jobs, the opportunity, and the paychecks. Ultimately, the human mind has a very short attention span, and in a world of "what have you done for me lately," the communist government has done quite a lot.



My wife still bristles at seeing that yellow and red flag flying. It isn't her flag. Her flag is the red field with the single yellow star. To her, that is not communism, that is Vietnam--her country, the country she loves. Her feelings mirror most of the other young adults and youth in Vietnam today. They are happy for the progress Vietnam's made, excited about the future. Some are level headed and wish for better, but the majority are quieted by the relative opulence that Vietnam now enjoys.

And so it is truly a tale of two cities--two peoples. The Vietnamese look at the Việt kiều as another nationality, because in a sense they are. Although they call themselves "Vietnamese" in America, they are at most Vietnamese-American. Their culture has become wholly different. Their history is different (after 1975). Even their language is different (speaking half Vietnamese, half English or "Viet-glish" and using Vietnamese vocabulary circa 1975).

And in Vietnam you have a new young population that doesn't remember war and food shortages, and who's youthful optimism is buttressed by economic progress and growth of a new middle class. They are learning English as a second language, working for foreign companies, and worried more about the new CD by Mỹ Tâm than the latest actions of Lý Tống. In many of their minds, it truly is "the best of times ..."

New Edition to the TBE Family

As I mentioned in my last post, Vicissitude, life is a series of ups and downs, circling constantly back around on itself. It really is a series of stages of awareness--to self, others, God.

Along the way, we enter into the vicissitudes of humanity, contributing consciously and without effort, to the upswing in the wave and the downswing. It is a matter of debate whether or not the wave circles back on itself--whether "history repeats itself." It is a greater debate whether we, as individuals, can affect the outcome of humanity on a macroscopic scale. I believe it does repeat itself, and I believe we can change that.

So, back in January I learned that I was joining humanity as it repeated itself. My wife came yelled at me from the bathroom while I was studying.

Anh! Come see this!

This is what I saw:

"Am I pregnant?" she asked.

"Well, when are you supposed to have your period?" I replied.

"This week," she answered. "I haven't started yet."

"Well then you better wait. The second line is faint. Maybe, maybe not."

My lovely wife did not heed my advice, quite usual in our family, and used another test the next day.


Again, I told her to wait.

"Em, usually the female body does not make that hormone unless you are pregnant, however, I don't know how sensitive the tests are or your specific hormonal makeup, so just wait a week and do it again. It won't change anything." I cautioned.

Obviously, that did nothing to calm her curiosity--I mean who wouldn't want to know right away if there's a life growing inside them?--but this time she waited (it also helped that she had no more test sticks). On the other hand, I knew pretty well that those tests are 99.99% accurate, and a healthy non-pregnant body should have NO hCG hormone. In all likelihood she was pregnant. That 0.01% wrong is usally a false NEGATIVE, not false positive.

A week later, she grabbed another box of sticks and tested herself again. The results confirmed my suspicions.


Needless to say, we were very excited. My wife immediately started dreaming up ways to paint my study room into a nursery, and looking at maternity clothes. I just stared at the wall wondering how I'm gonna do school and be a dad. She didn't want to tell anyone until we saw the ultrasound, but after about one week she broke down and told my mother.

Then, the second week of March, we went to the doctor and saw the little blogger for the first time. Here is the new edition to The Bleeding Ear:



The doc forcasts his/her first blog to be about October 22, 2007. We find out the gender in June-ish. (You can see at the bottom of the ultrasound, the new blogger is currently 1.69cm long, at the 8 week mark, and the computer's due date)

And so, I am now filling the role my parents went through some 28 years ago. My life is definitely on the upslope of the wave. Ah, the vicissitudes of life!

Vicissitude

I was walking with my companion, Thuan, when he stopped suddenly. I turned, a couple steps ahead of him due to my slow reflexes, and noticed him reading a poster. Here in Little Saigon, glossy posters covered with famous Vietnamese faces and advertising everything from plays to Paris by Night were commonplace--more than commonplace. On this particular wall the poster melded into a sea of posters, all taped up with clear packing tape, one right next to--and sometimes on top of--the other.

(example of the posters I'm talking about)

For the most part, we ignored the ubiquitous posters, but this time was different. Thuan had found a word he didn't know. We searched are pockets for our faithful "girlfriend Kimmy" (electronic dictionary). "Những nỗi thăng trầm của cuộc đời" or "The vicissitudes of life."

Vicissitudes...I have never forgot that little moment, and it is just those times that make language live. At that moment on Bolsa Ave. "vicissitude" gained a second meaning outside of the dictionary--that memory.

The other day, while reading a post on Virtual Doug, I realized one more time how life moves in circles. However, after finishing Block III exams, I realize it's more complicated than that. It's like photons--at once both a particle and a wave.

Everyone in life deals with vicissitudes while at the same time circling back to where we were before. It's like a wavy circle, if you can picture it. For me, a medical student's life runs in four-week waves. The first week (this week) is very low key, because you're exhausted from the exams you just finished. You sleep 8-10 hours a day, and your schedule is malleable. The second week starts the dip. You start to focus, and play catch-up on what you missed during week 1, because studying is immensely difficult. Week three is near the bottom of the wave. By this time you're in your last week of studying, so every minute is spent looking at a notecard or memorizing some random fact that could be on the test. Sleep has now dropped to four hours a night or less. Time spent with the wife is even less than that. You have a blood caffeine content of probably 0.05%, and you've got sharp headaches from the tension built in your shoulders from reading constantly.

Week four is actually on the upside of the next wave. You see, taking the exams is horrible, but it's mitigated by the fact that you're now knocking them off one-by-one. No more juggling time to study for every exam--just spend all day on the next one up. Then it's over with and out of mind. Once Friday evening hits, you're back to the top of the next wave, and coincidentally, you've made a circle back to the beginning of the cycle.

Take a deep breath! You've gotta do it again...

Google's Free Broadband

Is it real?? I dunno. At first I thought, "cool!" but then I noticed it was after midnight, and that made it ... April Fool's Day.


So what is it? Well, Google has announced free broadband internet. You sign up and they will send the stuff out to you. Sound too good to be true? Well, maybe not. It's been talked about for a while that Google is doing internet. Something about free wi-fi in San Francisco. They actually actualized (is that grammatically legal?) the plans by providing free wi-fi to everyone in Mountain View, CA at the end of August, last year.

So, giving out free internet isn't too much of a stretch...

...which also makes it the perfect April Fool's Day joke.

If they had stopped there, they would have had me. But they didn't. I clicked on the install link at http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html. That took me to a page showing me how to install the internet -- THROUGH MY TOILET.



Awesome. Instead of crappy internet, I can get my internet crappy.

Sorry .... it's late and I've been studying hard.

So, in case you think we might actually get super fast internet for free, it's all a joke. You're stuck with the junk we have from our cable companies or DSL providers or AT&T, who all want to charge us an arm and a leg for slower connections than the Japanese and Koreans have, and have the audacity to want to start making the internet a tiered system by preferentially charging websites for faster access by surfers.

Unless you live in Mountain View, that is.

Define Anti-Semite

How is this anti-Semetic:

"They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great," Richardson told The Times Union on Tuesday. "I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people."

That's what Michael Ray Richardson, ex-NBA player and current CBA coach of the Albany Patroons, said to a newspaper. The result? The CBA suspended him.

Now the beauty of MSM is that they never give you all the facts--no links to the original interview, etc., so we can never know how in- or out-of-context that quote is, but looking at it on face value, it seems pretty inocuous. Is "crafty" the word they're mad about? I've always taken it as a compliment to be crafty, but it could possibly be taken the other way.

Otherwise, I don't see how his comments are anti-Semitic. If he replaced "Jewish" with "White" or even "American" in his statement, would he have been fined?

I'm all for discouraging racial slurs -- I've grown up in the South and I've seen/heard them many a time. This one just seems a little overboard given the info at hand.

"Fixing" the NCAA March Madness Tournament

Every year during March Madness, amid the amazing games, comes the reason we say
"madness" in 'March Madness." Someone wants to change the system.

Can't people just leave well enough alone?

I think people are barking up the wrong tree. The tournament is fine as it is. Each team has 30-odd games to prove themselves, and a conference tournament. Eventually, there are 31 conference champions and 34 at large births. You have a committee of very well versed people that sit down, look at the whole body of work, and pick those 34 at large teams. Sure, sometimes they must split hairs, and occasionally they're going to make a mistake, but most of the time they're going to be pretty accurate. For those 2-3 teams on the cusp that get left out in a given year, here's my advice: Play better next year. Another win here, a harder scheduled opponent there and things would be different. Ultimately the onus falls on your shoulders to execute, and you didn't. Unless you go 30-0 and get left out, you have SOME blemish that is very real, and potentially very worthy of causing people to think you aren't among the best 34 non-conference champions in America.

Can't people just leave well enough alone

Those who want to change things (uhhhumm Jim Boeheim), typically point to those last cut teams as proof that things need to be expanded. Well, Syracuse, I might be inclined to agree that you're stronger than Alabama, but it was close. All you had to do was beat Notre Dame in your final game and you wouldn't have had that issue. Or maybe not let go of Villanova, when you lost 75-78. Or what was the loss to little ole' St. John's (60-64)?

When I was a freshman in high school I had my heart set on playing on my high school's basketball team. I played basketball daily--loved it. Tryouts came around. I did the sprints. I shot the free throws. I ran the drills. Names were called and cut boys headed to the locker room. That was day one. I came back for day two, and day three.

At the end of day three coach gathered all of us sweaty freshman around him. He had varsity full and put one of us on JV. That left 15 boys for 12 spots on the freshman team (yes, I was at a big high school that had three teams). One by one, twelve boys had their names called, until I and two others were left--cut.

It hurt--sure it hurt--because those boys playing ball were the ones I played with every day after school at the park. It hurt because I felt he picked players he was more familiar with--those who played AAU. It hurt because I felt I was good enough to be out there with them, but I wasn't. However, I came to realize that I had nobody to blame but myself. Of course a coach is going to pick a known quantity over an unknown quantity (that's the same reason a medical school residency program will pick a medical student with lower grades from in house over a graduating student from another medical school). Moreover, if I wanted him to know I was a good basketball player, I could have run a little harder, shot a little better, practiced a little more at nights. If I had truly stood out, I wouldn't have had to worry about having experience with me, or sweating out the cuts. But I didn't take care of my end of the deal.

So, Syracuse, do what my old girlfriend used to tell me:

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.

I mean, you wouldn't want a computer doing the picking would you (a la NCAA football)?

Now that I've just pontificated about why things shouldn't be changed, I'm gonna give you my thoughts on how to change them (sounds dumb, huh?). The two main issues I see with the current tournament format are:

1. Some good teams get left out because the tournament doesn't include more teams. These "cut" teams want an expanded tournament.



2. Smaller conference champions get embarassed having to play the "play-in game" between seeds 64 and 65. The don't want to be in such a game since they took care of business and won their conference.

My solution is so easy, that should the powers that be actually do the stupid thing and tweak the tournament, they'll never institute it. I propose that:

• All conference regular season champions be issued automatic invites to the dance. They proved they were the best team from their conference over 16 games.


• All conferences should hold a conference tournament and the winner, if not the same as the regular season champion, should be invited to the tournament. Each regular season champ still plays in the tourney because they want a good seeding by the committee. In most smaller conferences, the regular season champ and tourney champ are often the same team, and the benefit for a regular season champ of winning the conference (seeding) will outweigh tanking to guarantee the conference two bids, so those "one-bid" conferences will--in all probability--stay so. In stronger conferences, the regular season champion is less assured of winning, and it effectively gives the conference a second automatic bid--up for grabs for the teams like Syracuse.


• All remaining at-large teams, from 34 to 3 (if no regular season champ won their tourney), would be selected by the committee and seeded as usual. This is not far different from now, because most sportswriters admit that there really are only 5 or 6 bubble spots truly available after the conference tourneys are over.


• Make the "play-in" game between the two lowest seeded at-large teams. This allows for a potentially more enjoyable game, because the at large teams could be playing for a 14 or 13 seed, and rewards those teams who won conferences/tourneys to bypass the indignity of being forced to play another game.

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it

These suggestions will effectively turn the conference tournaments into the extension of the NCAA tournament that people wish for. With potentially two automatic bids up for grabs in each conference, you have double the reason to perform during the season or go for broke in the conference tourney, and half the reason to gripe. Also, the change in the play-in game can happen regardless of the other changes and still bring the benefit outlined.


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The First Yahoo 360 Blog Highlight: Susan

While in Vietnam I met many people who touched my life forever. Many of my students taught me almost as much (or more) as I taught them. For good reason, this girl's blog is my first blog to highlight. She is one of the students I grew closest to, possibly because we have such similar dreams.

And, she's only 15. Man, I wish I was so forward thinking when I was 15.

Her post on February 25 highlights the direction I desire Vietnamese blogging to go. It's title: "Top 10. Good or Bad." In it she points out some very salient things. The blog is in Vietnamese, and I won't attempt to translate it, but I will paraphrase some things. She says

Viet Nam dung thu nhi the gioi ve san xuat lua gao. Dieu nay di nhien la tot, no chung to rang nuoc ta co nen nong nghiep vung chac.

...Viet Nam dung trong 10 nuoc tren the gioi ve viec an hoi lo nhieu nhat. Good or bad?"

She, like many of the youth in Vietnam, goes on to express displeasure in the bribery and corruption rampant in Vietnam because they have such pride and patriotism. Her blog is well written, and in her short time blogging, has covered a variety of topics personal to her.

My hope is that people -- especially China -- will stand up and take notice. These youth like Susan are proving that you don't have to keep your people in the dark. Vietnam has taken the lead in Southeast Asia by being open about corruption within and without the government, and trying to clean it up. It's also let people discuss it. The result is the realization that Vietnam has succeeded where China has failed. The Vietnamese youth can be incredibly patriotic and loyal to Vietnam, while expressing displeasure about something specific in the system. They are not mutually exclusive.

Her most recent post is called "Cay Tao." It's a Vietnamese translation of the parable of the child and the apple tree. I don't remember who first wrote it. You know the one--child eats apples, young man sells apples, adult cuts down tree, elderly man sits on stump--to teach us about serving. It's interesting to see her Vietnamese take on it's meaning.

Cay tao ay chinh la hien than cua cha me chung ta. ...

So, check out Susan's blog.

BYU Woes and Shady Refs

I'm gonna start the conspiracy theories now -- the NCAA puts a little extra $$$ in the pockets of the refs if they can stack the cards in Xavier's favor. Because, hey, a Xavier-Ohio St. matchup (old romp of Matta vs. new) will bring more ratings than BYU v. Ohio St.

What really happened?? A superior BYU team got handcuffed by refs that put them in the bonus with over 14 minutes to go. Xavier didn't hit the bonus until 7 minutes. Yes, a full seven minutes of free points. Xavier ended 23-29 from the line while BYU was 10-13 from the line. 13 free points? BYU lost by 2? Hmmm, sounds like an 11 point swing to me.

Whatever the nefarious reason really was, it was clear that the refs were calling the game tight at one end and loose at the other. They called it clean--no phantom fouls--but ticky-tack. On the other hand, Xavier was doing the same thing at their defensive end and getting away with it.

I hate that.

Well, good luck Xavier. I hope Ohio St kills you by 50. Long live Texas A&M and Georgetown, Kansas and Florida. That's the final four.

The New Generation of Viet Bloggers: Yahoo 360

Since the inception of the Bleeding Ear, we have joined with others in looking for Vietnamese blogs. Previously, I listed a couple blogs I found off of Noodlepie, and some reasons why I wished blogging among the Vietnamese would blossom.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know

My first foray into the "Vietblogosphere" found a wide variety of expat blogs but only a few blogs written by Viets.

Yet over the last year, things have started to change. I'm not sure how noticeable this is from America, but I have seen it personally. You see, Yahoo and Google get a lot of flak for bowing to communists and censoring search results--as well they should. But Vietnam is showing China that things can be done differently. The internet is slowly opening--not closing--in Vietnam, and the presence of Yahoo and Google, if neutered, has had profound blessings.

What blessings?? Well, Vietnamese youth waste hours a day chatting on Yahoo messenger. My first day as an English teacher in Vietnam was a lesson in the power of Yahoo. It was in Go Vap district, in Ho Chi Minh City, with VATC--Vietnamese American Training College. I arrived to the skinny, three-story concrete building as the sun was setting, and walked inside the front doors, found the manager, and received my lesson materials. After a quick planning session, I was escorted to my first class--PET3. PET classes are pre-teenage classes. My class was full of 25 boys and girls all about 12-14 years old, with moderate English skill.

These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger

My teaching was nothing memorable that first day, with most of it spent answering personal questions from the students. But every class has a ten minute break, and when the bell rang, my class emptied so fast, I almost believed the previous 45 minutes had been a dream.

Eager to find out where my students were running to, I walked downstairs. I passed one or two talking on the staircase. Then I reached the first floor and found the computer room. Every VATC has a room for students' use that contains about 10 computers. This room was packed--standing room only--with about three students per computer. Every student was doing two things--playing flash games and chatting on Yahoo.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know. But unlike America, where everyone is broken into AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, and MSN circles, there is only one large circle in Vietnam--Yahoo. Children and teenagers squeeze every minute they can chatting with friends--10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, an hour before school here, an hour at night before bed there. Internet cafes are chalk full of them at almost all hours of the day, and it has become a nearly unregulated way of mass communication and relationship building.

At that moment, seeing all those students chatting, I wondered if they would ever jump to blogging. They were so close--talking to friends about school, what to do the next day, the game they're playing--all over the internet. I shouldn't have wondered.

Thanks again to Yahoo comes the next generation of Vietnamese youth. Yahoo 360 has finally taken off. I have seen most of my chatting students set up personal Yahoo 360 pages within the last year. These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger. You have a home page where you see new blog posts or messages from friends in your network, a blog page, and picture albums like Myspace.

My Yahoo 360 page

All of this thinking about Vietnamese blogging and Yahoo 360 happened when I read a student's post that came nearest to an American blog post that I have ever seen. Over the next couple weeks I hope to highlight her and some of my other students' pages because they are the next generation--no, the first true generation--of Vietnamese bloggers. As they get used to writing their feelings online, I think it will be wonderful to follow their maturity, and see how their discussions of weather and music turn to school and love and even politics.

It's an exciting time to be growing up in Vietnam. Yahoo 360 just adds another dimension to that statement.

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AMPAC Regional Campaign Workshop

I just returned from attending a political campaign workshop in Austin, Texas. What an interesting experience. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting to go. Another student from UT-Houston's TMA/AMA chapter was assigned to go and bailed at the last minute, so I took his place. So many stories from two days!

Wow, I feel all warm and fuzzy about our democracy ... Goodbye warm-fuzzies

Many of you who know me, have heard me ruminate about possibly running for office someday. Unfortunately, I'm an idealist and a family man. I know in my heart of hearts that politics is dirty, but I want to "help the world." I also want to provide for my family, and often politics doesn't allow that. This workshop allowed me to see more in-depth the makings of a campaign, the strategy behind one, and weigh whether or not I really want to do that in the future.

AMPAC is the American Medical Association Political Action Committee, basically the political wing of the American Medical Association. American laws are all screwed up, and election laws are no different. As I learned on Monday, American politics are supposed to be pure, unadulterated, bereft of corporate or other special interests. To such end, laws prohibit corporations, unions, or professional organizations (like the TMA and AMA) from making direct contributions to a candidate or campaign.

Wow, I feel all warm and fuzzy about our democracy.

BUT, they allow any of the above entities to sponsor political action committees (PACs)made up of employees, run by employees, and --obviously-- espousing the ideals of the "parent" organization.

Goodbye warm-fuzzies.

Actually, the pragmatist in me doesn't see any real problem with this. It allows people interested in the survival of HMOs to tell their point of view and those who want them gone to share theirs. Ultimately, the people vote (via candidates and party platforms) for whose ideas they support more.

So, the AMPAC (and TEXPAC...Texas Political Action Committee) is made of members of the AMA (and TMA, respectively) who feel strong enough about their feelings to make monetary and time donations to the candidates and parties that they feel will support and protect the profession of medicine.

the average age of a person who responds to mailers is 67

AMPAC sponsored this workshop, and brought in two political campaign strategists to teach us about fundraising, advertising, employees/volunteers needed, strategy, etc. Heck, who better to protect medicine than a DOCTOR in office, right?

The AMA (and AMPAC) is a nonpartisan organization, so they brought in one Republican campaign strategist--Carlyle Gregory (without the mustache)--and one Democratic strategist--Gary Nordlinger. Both were very good. Some things I learned from their presentations:

1. 80% of voters have their mind made up regardless of what you do to persuade them. They're either Democrat or Republican, or care about some issue so much that their minds are made up in the beginning. 5-8% are "hyperinformative" voters, because they weigh everything up until the last minute and make up their minds on who to vote for while on the way to the polls (yours truly). The remaining 12-15% of voters are considered "low information" voters. These people are those who pay little attention to a campaign until the last two weeks. Then, they see a couple adds, gain little information, and make a decision on who to vote for. They are typically able to change their minds many times up until about 5 days before the election.

It's these "low info" voters that most TV ads are targeted to, so if you wonder why sometimes TV ads have so little substance, now you know. (This was from Gary Nordlinger)

2. Evidently direct mailers are the most statistically researched of all advertising techniques. Everyone knows that when you send out a mailer asking for donations, you will receive 50% of your money in the first 5 days. It's like gospel. Also, the average age of a person who responds to mailers is 67. The stats experts have also shown that the longer the letter (contrary to logic), the more likely someone is of reading it and responding. (This was from Carlyle Gregory)

I suppose this is because as you get older, you get less and less mail, so any seemingly personal but really impersonal letter one receives from a candidate will allow he or she to delude herself with the joy of receiving correspondence.

All in all there was too much information to put down here and not bore everyone to death. Yesterday we lobbied at the capital, and then came home--but that is another post.

Engine Troubles ... Blogger Style

Now that I have a little free time, I'm trying to bring this blog into the 21st century. Or how should I say, bring this blog into the year 2007.

Blogger has gone and revamped everything, and while this is old news for most everybody, it's new to me because I've had my head stuck in a book for the last billion years (it feels like).

Now, I love my layout. TBE version 2.0. I worked long and hard with my meager HTML skills to put that together...and I mean meager skills. But I feel the need to be on the new platform--give in to the man, so to speak. I have some great additions to my blog, things under the hood, like my categories and such, that require user scripts through greasemonkey on firefox for optimal use.

I love greasemonkey, and everything about it, but there is one problem: my new life at medical school has me using many different computers throughout the day. Most are not my own (school labs and such), meaning they do not run greasemonkey, or often firefox at all. That leaves me a list of things to fix when I get home--provided I post at school--or not do at all.

A switch to the new blogger would smooth some of the multiple computer issues, but i fear I don't have the talent or time to transfer my design to the new system.

Grrrr...engine troubles again. Can anyone point me in the direction of a really good tutorial or to that explains the new layout system, writing for it, or transfering designs to it (not counting actual blogger pages, seeing as how I've read all them)? I could really use pics. Blogger gives code and some explanations, but i like to see pics to tie with the code.

Welcome Xanghe

There's a new blog in the Bleeding Ear -o- sphere.





It's Xanghe, a blog about all things xang and he. Actually, his tagline says

God gave me a mind to think and a heart to feel, but sometimes I get confused about when I should be thinkin and when I should be feelin. That's when I just talk.

It's written by a good friend of mine, and deals with Vietnamese issues. I'm glad he finally joined the blogosphere, because I think his perspective will be a good addition to the collective we have going.

Here's to many posts and much success, Xanghe!

Texas 1st to Require HPV Vaccine

Friday I was greeted by some good news after finishing my practice physical exam. Texas is requiring all girls entering sixth grade to be immunized for HPV.

HPV stands for Human Papilloma Virus--a sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts. This disease is especially interesting because it doesn't ALWAYS cause disease.

While at BYU, I collaborated with Dr. Meyers of Penn St. Medical School who is very well known in HPV research. His research focused on elucidating the lifecycle of the virus. He was interviewed by WPSU (Penn State Public Broadcasting) about the vaccine and disease.

One of the problems with studying HPV is that it's lifecycle has different stages in different tissues. That made studying it in vitro almost impossible until Dr. Meyers perfected a method of creating an organotypic skin culture--pseudoskin--to study it. The other big problem is that HPV has numerous different strains. Each strain behaves similarly, but not identical, to others. While many cause genital warts, the nature of the virus may lead it to latent infections, and some strains lend themselves to that more than others. This means it can be transmitted very easily because many people--especially men--may not know they have it because they won't have any symptoms.

HPV has an interesting secondary disease. According to Dr. Meyers,

"Certain types of the virus that infect the cervix or anal-genital region can cause cancer."

In fact, about 90% of all cervical cancers have HPV as a cause. According to Dr. George Ort, on the same radio show, cervical cancer causes about 25% of cancers in women worldwide. Hence a vaccine that could prevent 90% of those cancers would be incredibly important.

The vaccine, Gladasil by Merckx, doesn't quite get 90%, but it is very good. Dr. Meyers said,

"there are over 15 human pap virus types that cause cancer, and the vaccine is directed against the two major types that cause cancer--and about 70% of cancer are caused by these two types--so its effective for 70% on that basis."

However, although this vaccine looks so good, it has caused a lot of controversy.

In Texas, a very conservative and strongly religious state, many people and groups argue (like when arguing birth control in schools) that requiring this vaccine will give a green light in girls' minds to have more sex. Others are not properly educated on the vaccine because it is so new. My mother worried about the vaccine on Friday. She remarked that she had raised my sister right, and didn't worry about her being at risk for getting HPV, so why spend the money? Why have the chance to get the virus?

It is imperative that pap smear education go hand in hand with HPV vaccine distribution

Well, giving the vaccine to 9 year old girls, or girls entering 6th grade, will not give them the greenlight to have more sex anymore than preaching safe sex in schools will. Surveys are showing sexuality rates declining among high school students, giving fodder for the view that possibly sexuality has more to do with culture and less to do with the availability for sexual education in schools. Moreover, students are required to get many shots before school anyway, and few know what the shots are for. Adding one more shot to the barrage placed before them will be accepted as a fact of life, with little care into what disease it will prevent and therefore minimally impact behavior.

Secondly, people can raise their chlidren "right," in the sense that those children might not be sexually active during their teenage years or before marriage, but that never decreases the probability for rape or abuse. Unfortunately, raising your child right doesn't mean others raised their children correctly, and nobody wants their daughter to develop cervical cancer after being raped.

Thirdly, the vaccine is not the virus. Dr. Meyers described it as,

well this is a very simple little virus, and with all viruses theres a nucleic acid--either dna or rna inside. And what they did was they made empty viruses, so there's no dna inside these particle, so there just empty little particles, and when they inject that into a woman, the woman's immune sys sees them as a virus even though their empty, and so it mounts a response and creates protection against infection by that virus."

So if a person gets the vaccine, there is NO CHANCE she could get infected by the virus.

One problem with the vaccine is that it only protects 60-70% of cervical cancers, so some health professionals fear that vaccinated women will stop getting regular pap smears (that test for cervical cancer). It is imperative that pap smear education go hand in hand with HPV vaccine distribution.

The shocking thing is that Texas is the first state to require students to get the vaccine. Governor Rick Perry did an end-around republican state legislators and the inevitable fight it would have received in this conservative state, and passed it by executive order. According to the Los Angeles Times, Perry side-stepped part of the backlash by saying that parents who don't want the vaccine for their children because of reasons of conscience can opt out of it. However, human nature is such that most parents won't object, because it's just one more shot.

Having just returned from the Texas Medical Association Winter Conference, I can say that this was the news of the meeting. Over the two days I was in Austin, both doctors and medical students were discussing this, and I heard 100% happiness that Gov. Perry took this step. Although controversial among social conservatives, he has the backing of the medical community, and that might be most important of all.

School-Girl Fight

Another article on CNN describes girls fighting at school, and some idiot stabbed and KILLED another student in Boston the other day. All that got me thinking about how Youtube.com always gets fingered for having fight videos.

How many? Lots. Tons. That kinda surprised me, but i guess it shouldn't. However, in comparison with these fights we've just heard about, hear's a video of a girl fight in Vietnam--similar to one's I've seen, and much better, in my opinion.

(Plus I get to try out Youtube's blog posting stuff and see if it's worth it).

The Wonders of MRIs

My professor started off our second neurology lecture today by saying:

"Today we just heard a description of CT, and MRI, and PET, and how they are useful. A couple years ago, a senator and a president ran against each other for office in this country. After the election was over, both were incredibly tired and got routine physicals from their GPs. The muscle fatigue was serious, so both got MRIs. After the results came back, the senator and president asked what they were.

'Well, you can see both the left brain and the right brain in these scans,' replied the doctor. 'We know that the Left has got nothing right, and the Right has nothing left!'"

Well, I thought it was funny.

The cold of Utah...The Universal Problem of New Labbies

Ouch, is it cold. I cannot even ride my bike outside. Well, who in their right mind would want to ride in Lycra in a single digit wind chill? Not I.

But I cannot explain why people who sign up to be part of a science lab do not commit more time to the lab when the weather is horrible outside? Shouldn't they enjoy the heat of an autoclave or a hot water bath? I say nay. They (the labbies) do not take the time to hibernate in the lab. Maybe they are in the library or cuddling up with a good read such as a biochemistry textook or a book on evolutionary biology. I think my thoughts deceive me. The labbies are not looking up journal articles. They are not studying. They are wandering through the mists of darkness of not understanding that they are not alone in the process of research! Each labbie may "own" a project, but they do not understand that the only way to come to a knowledge of the truth of research is by performing it. It is time for them to step into the unknown, the darkness of the lab and turn on the light to see that the pathway is lighted that much more after they make the initial step.

Till next time.

Old Man Winter...

The last two days have been amazing. The cold front sweeping through the nation finally hit Houston, and we've had winter for the first time. When living in Utah I wasn't a huge fan of the snow and cold, but it was beautiful and did give variation to the year. It was such a pain to drive in though.

I was beginning to be afraid that we might get three seasons here but not four

Now I'm in Houston and December was warm--50s and 60s warm. I was beginning to be afraid that we might get three seasons here but not four. However, it's finally into the 30s, and although it's not likely to stay there for long, it'll be in the 40s for the next week or so. At the very least, I'll get two weeks of winter.

It's funny to see everyone react to the cold. People have no experience driving--living--in cold weather. It hit 31, 32 degrees, with a little ice on the roads, and about two-thirds of the school districts closed. The other one-third opened late. I drove my wife to work and there was no ice on the roads at all except for a little patch on an entry ramp to the 59 freeway. I hit it, skidded a little, and kept going--nothing major at all--but it had caught someone inexperienced because there was a wheel laying in the middle of the ramp--not a tire, but the metal wheel of a car.

It's too bad I have exams next week, or I might be able to spend some time outside in the refreshing cold air. As it is, I have to make due with breathing it in while waiting for the bus, and trying to warm my feet on my cold, cold hardwood floor.

A Crazy Day

Monday was a crazy day. I looked up trying to find a full moon--since full moons often are harbringers of disaster--but to no avail.

I was at the bus stop when my wife called me. The car was smoking. Quick change of plans. I hopped another bus and eventually reached my poor wife, sitting in our car, late for work, and found the radiator busted. The metal "T" that connects the radiator to the hose was snapped clean off. Old radiators suck. After getting my wife on another bus and off to work, I grabbed a tow truck, took it to a shop, and went to school.

I want to highlight how awesome the public transportation in Houston is. People think that Houston is so large a city, that you MUST have a car. Well, I have been able to go anywhere with minimal planning because the routes are so well done.

Now, at the end of the day I picked up my car. $500. Sucks. But that's not the big deal. Well, it is big, but not the deal. On my way home, I'm stopped at a light, and I see a college-age girl jogging in place as the light turns from yellow to red. I thought to myself, "Gee, she looks like she wants to run."

Then, right as the light turns green (for the cross traffic), she takes off. Now, it's not a large street. The car in the turn lane almost goes, but sees her and stops just short of hitting her. The car in the fast lane sees her and stops. The car in the slow lane goes before she gets there, causing the car behind it to go and never see her, until it hits her and she flips over the car hitting the ground.

All i could think of was "ooooo..." Evidently she was trying to reach her father/older man waiting for her on the other side. She got up and was crying on his shoulder as the man who hit her got out to see what had happened and how bad she was hurt. A couple people pulled over to help also.

How dumb are you to cross a full street at a green light? I just feel bad for her.

But that's not the end--I get home and there's an ambulance outside my building. Some old lady was in the back. Dunno why. I talk to two guys waiting for it to leave so they could get to there car, and find out one of the two had his $400 bike stolen a couple hours previous.

At least after that all i did was study.

What a crazy day.

First Semester in Review

It's been two months since I've written a post on TBE. I must say, it's been a loooonnnngggg two months. Not a week--no--not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about posting. Countless reasons to post have came and went, but one reason not to post trumped them all: school.

I never imagined medical school would be this hard. My sentiments have been echoed countless times by most of my classmates. Every one of us did well at our undergraduate institution. Some did remarkably well. We all expected to come into medical school and do what we always did--studying and what not--and get the grades.

The first semester was divided into three blocks. Each block was about six weeks long. Block exams then lasted one week. At the end of the semester we had Thanksgiving, then third block exams, and then finals. All in all, I was studying exams for the first two and a half weeks of December.

After finals, I spent the next week before Christmas playing tour guide, translator, and shopper. My father-in-law came in town and spent Christmas with us. It was great, but busy. While my wife worked, I got to drive all over Houston, pointing out interesting sites, translating things into Vietnamese, and trying to find Christmas gifts.

After Christmas, we all (wife, father-in-law, myself) went to San Jose, CA for a wedding. I love California. Now, I'd never want to live in San Francisco, but I was impressed. It was my first time going there, and it was fun, interesting, delicious (the food), and expensive. I'll talk more about that later.

But now I'm back. It's a new year, a new semester, new classes, new experiences, a new blogger (if you have a blogger blog you understand), and new posts. Here's to a great 2006 and a better 2007.

Second Anniversary

Today is my wife and my's second anniversary. I can't believe two years has gone by since we got married, and about four since we met. This means a couple things:

I truly am the luckiest guy in the world

1. I am getting old. Don't laugh. Yes, I know I am still in my twenties, but I am older than 98% of my medical school class, and it tells.

2. I am the luckiest guy in the world. My wife loves me and keeps reaffirming how great my decision was to marry her.

I'm not sure how I won her heart. You see, she didn't like me at first. She thought I was stuck up. I thought she was stuck up. Obviously looks can be deceiving. We met briefly at a Vietnamese Student Association thing, I gave her my email address so I could be informed about upcoming meetings, and we both took away those first impressions.

Little did I know I'd marry her about two years later.

[She] slipped her her hand into mine, and my heart fluttered

A month after that fateful email delivery, I went down to Orange County, CA to visit old friends and attend the Tet festival (Chinese New Year) in Garden Grove. By this time we had talked, and things were generally confusing. She wasn't sure how she felt about me. I wasn't sure where things were headed. I went down with some friends of mine, and invited her to take the second car down. She said she'd think about it, but needed to stay and study.

The next night she met me at the Tet festival and slipped her hand into mine, and my heart fluttered, and the train was off.

Two years later she slipped her hand into mine, this time wearing a diamond ring, and we drove away from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City a married couple ... and my heart fluttered.

Last night, with stuff nose and headache, I went to bed. I have a cold. I feel horrible. You know the feeling--your head pounds, you can't breathe out of your nose, and generally you just feel like drilling a hole in your head to let out the pressure, and hopefully allow you to breathe better. A little while later I felt my wife slip under the covers, kiss me on the forehead, and slip her hand into mine as I fell back asleep ... and my heart fluttered.

I truly am the luckiest guy in the world.