Finally, a new development in US news to be happy about!! In a decision that will hopefully guide future employment law, the Supreme Court has overturned Judge Sotomayor's decision to deny 20 New Haven firefighters their rightfully earned promotion. Yes, you read that right...the Supreme Court just overturned the decision of the current supreme court nominee.
If you have not been following the news, this was a reverse discrimination case in which 20 firefighters (19 white and 1 hispanic) were denied a promotion, after scoring highest on the promotional exam, just because no other minority firefighters scored high enough for a promotion. Similar things have happened in fire departments (and other places) all through the country; where fair outcomes are rejected just because an employer is afraid of lawsuits. Hopefully this will set a new precedent: if you want to compete, you're going to have to be competitive...no matter what race you are!
Full story can be found here
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Haz-mat training
Today, I had mandatory haz-mat refresher training for the fire department. As usual, it was boring. But fortunately, it only lasted about an hour and a half. The training consisted of a powerpoint of information that I'd already learned in haz-mat the first time, a tour of the haz-mat satellite truck (the main unit is at another station further away), shooting some foam on the parking lot, and dressing up in plastic suits. Once in the plastic suits, finger paint was squirt all over them (to simulate contamination), and we had to "decon" them without spreading it around. The foam part was mildly interesting, since I've never had the opportunity to use it; it's thicker than I expected it to be. The training could have been made more interesting by setting something on fire, and then putting it out with the foam. Shooting it all over the parking lot just doesn't have the same excitement.
Firemen hard at work
Usually, these engine bays are the home of an engine, truck, haz-mat unit, and two medic units. But, it's apparently been converted into a tennis court, to give the guys something to do between calls. I'm not complaining, just jealous that we didn't think of it first at Arbutus.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
New USMLE Date
I've officially pushed back the USMLE until the 14th. I'd really like to have that extra week of vacation, but it's probably just a little more important to do well on the exam. I probably could get through everything by next week, but that would not really give me time to do any questions. So, I'm going to keep going at the same pace to get through it all ASAP, and then spend about a week just doing as many questions as I can. I may also give First Aid a second read through. Hopefully, that will be enough to get the score I want.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Daily photos
Because what's more exciting than a bee and a bench? You gotta admit though, these are pretty good for iPhone pictures! As usual, you can click to biggify. Ok, upstairs in the library to study for the rest of the day!
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, June 25, 2009
progress
Today (or actually last night), I moved on from Anatomy to Neuro. I'm actually moving at a decent pace to be through the neuro notes in about an hour or so. Then, I'll probably do all of the anatomy questions in USMLEWorld, and whatever I can find in neuro. I'll also probably read through neuro in First Aid. Hopefully, I'll also be able to start behavioral tonight. Behavioral is not a particularly difficult or large section, which makes it pretty high yield for studying. Some people would say that behavioral or biostats are low yield subjects. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've said that before. But, it depends on how you look at it.
Sure, there are way more questions on path, pharm, and micro, but they also cover a ton of information. There are not a ton of behavioral questions, but there's also not a ton of info to cover. So, it's not necessarily high yield for the overall exam, but it is high yield relative to the amount of time it takes to learn it well. Spending just a little time on Behavioral will hopefully get me a few easy correct answers. And, those few easy answers could be the difference between a pretty good score and a very good score! Obviously, I'm hoping for the latter.
Sure, there are way more questions on path, pharm, and micro, but they also cover a ton of information. There are not a ton of behavioral questions, but there's also not a ton of info to cover. So, it's not necessarily high yield for the overall exam, but it is high yield relative to the amount of time it takes to learn it well. Spending just a little time on Behavioral will hopefully get me a few easy correct answers. And, those few easy answers could be the difference between a pretty good score and a very good score! Obviously, I'm hoping for the latter.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
My new home
I'm feeling nostalgic today. This is the library at UMBC, where I spent a few too many years in undergrad. For the next couple of weeks, while I prepare for the step, this is going to be my new home. Walking onto campus, I remember how much I miss this place. I'm glad to be done with undergrad and going into my third year of med school, but I still miss the place. It's pretty much everything I wish AUC was, besides the minor fact that UMBC cannot give me an MD degree.
Being at UMBC also makes me remember how glad I am to be back in the US. Everything just seems to work here, I'm not constantly frustrated, and my blood pressure has probably lowered 20 mmHg. Now, it is time for me to go upstairs, find a comfortable spot (of which there are plenty in this library, and get to studying.
-- Post From My iPhone
Monday, June 22, 2009
Falcon: final review
Well here's my final review of Falcon, or at least my final review until I take the USMLE and get my scores back.
Professors:
Many of them were MD/PhD's, they were all experts in the field they taught, and they were mostly very good. The only really bad professor was the cardio guy we initially had, but Falcon made up for that by giving us access to the online lectures, and bringing in another fantastic cardio guy to redo the lecture. The anatomy guy was monotone and a little difficult to stay awake through, but he did do a good job of pointing out the most important topics. Goljan was as good as people think he is and did an incredible job bringing everything together. I cannot think of a better person to go at the end of a review course. The micro guy was good at micro, but not good in immuno. Immuno was the only subject in the class that I felt I had to go back and watch the Kaplan video. They also seemed to spend the appropriate amount of time on each subject, relative to its importance on the step (most of the time was devoted to pharm, micro, and path, with the rest sharing the remainder of the time). Almost all of them were very good about keeping on schedule and giving regular breaks. Overall, few complaints about the professors, and many good things to say.
Hotel:
The hotel is nothing fancy, but it's nice enough. The beds were Sleep Number beds, so they were among the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever slept in. I definitely did not have any trouble sleeping due to the bedding. There was an adequate desk and comfortable chair, along with a mini fridge and microwave. Room service came in 3 days a week to clean up, which was just the right amount. There was rarely any noise from outside and when there was, it was almost always from inconsiderate fellow Falcon students. The only real complaint about the hotel was the internet, which was about the same speed as St. Maarten internet (which is very slow). Also, like St. Maarten, they kept saying they were upgrading, but it never got better. In fact, it got worse towards the end. They do have a shuttle around the local area, which is free and makes multiple trips a day, but more on that below.
Food:
Breakfast was terrible pretty much every day. There are only two different options, which rotated every day. One day would be cereal, bad oatmeal, bad danishes, and biscuits with very bad gravy. The next day was always extremely runny eggs, usually cold pancakes or french toast some sort of breakfast meat, and toast which was pre-toasted (cold). They always had fruit, but they'd reuse it for a couple days until it ran out. One day you'd have all kinds of good fruit, and the next couple days it would only be cantaloupe and honey dew (after people had eaten out the strawberries and grapes). Some of the fresh fruit was mixed with fruit from a can. We asked them to put out cereal and fresh toast every day, but they never did it.
Lunch was better, but got old very fast. Pretty much every day was some permutation of chicken and/or pasta. Sometimes it was very good sometimes it was pretty terrible. But, it's not easy to have a good buffet for 7 weeks, 7 days a week. I guess most buffets would get old after that long.
Overall, the food was not great, but good enough. It was definitely convenient to just have it there and not have to worry about it. Room Service (for dinner) was also significantly better than the buffet food for breakfast and lunch.
Local Area:
Falon is techinically in Dallas, but it's a good distance from the actual city of Dallas. More accurately, the hotel is in Garland, TX. Garland is a bit of a dump. There is practically NOTHING to do in Garland, many businesses are out of business, and there is almost nothing in walking distance. There are actually only 3 places close by: a gas station, a sex shop, and a marijuana paraphernalia store. That, alone, should give you a good idea of the area. The only restaurants which are relatively close by are mostly fast food. There are some very nice areas, such as Addison, not far away, but they're about 15 minutes by car. I wouldn't say that Garland is unsafe, and I never felt in any kind of danger, but I also wouldn't walk around the area at night. They say that they have the course in Garland purposely so that there's nothing to do but study. And, that may just be true.
Fortunately, the area does have a brand new Super WalMart and a Bally's gym close by. Both are not in walking distance, but there is a free shuttle to both places, a couple times a day. Ballys gives Falcon students a special rate of $40 for the 7 weeks, which is a pretty great deal. Since the hotel does have a refrigerator and microwave in each room, most people had a good amount of food from WalMart in their room. Personally, I find Super WalMart somewhat magical; they seem to have just about anything I ever needed...like they could read my mind. That, or the place is just so damn big that they do have almost everything anyone could want.
Course structure:
Like I said, I liked the setup of the course, and felt they spent the appropriate amount of time on each subject. Their "patented study method" involves recording yourself reading the notes, and then reading them again while you listen to your tape (that's the abbreviated version of it). It sounds a little silly, but I do think it works. It forces you to pay attention to what you're doing and focus on studying. It also forces you to see the information many times over (once in class, once the first time you read through, again as you record, again as you listen, and again later as you listen for review). I made tapes for most of the lectures, and they are definitely easier to review than the areas I did not tape. Class begins at 8am, ends anywhere from 2-5PM, depending on the instructor. Goljan is the only person that goes past 4 though. There is an hour for lunch and usually 10 minute breaks every hour.
The course is given in the hotel ballroom, setup with rows of desks. You can see pretty well and hear perfectly no matter where you are in the room; you're not particularly at a disadvantage, no matter where you sit. Despite this, some overachievers get there at 6:30 AM to secure a front-row seat. Personally, I felt sleeping was much more important. For Goljan days, there was a line probably 50 people long by 6:30 AM, which was (in my opinion), a little stupid.
Overall:
I'd recommend the course and I would take it again, if I had to go back and decide. Some people say that they think PASS is the best review course, but likely for two reasons. One, they're lazy and don't want to take a 7 week course. Two, they haven't been to Falcon. There is just no possible way that you can fit what we learned into the 4 weeks of PASS. It simply is not something that could be done. By the end, we had probably a foot and a half of lecture material. Friends at PASS said they had one book which was about two inches high. I have often heard said that if you are really worried about just passing, take PASS, as they cover the highest yield information. But, if you want to do well (and have the ability to do well), go to Falcon. One friend even said he thought that if you knew the PASS notes inside and out (and nothing else), you'd get a 210. If you knew the Falcon notes inside and out, you'd probably get a 240 or better. I'm not saying PASS is a bad program, but they don't cover as much. Overall, I also liked the Falcon professors better than the Kaplan videos. I don't have my score yet, so I don't know exactly what it's done for me. But, at the moment, I would say that I got my money's worth. Any other questions? Post them in the comments.
Professors:
Many of them were MD/PhD's, they were all experts in the field they taught, and they were mostly very good. The only really bad professor was the cardio guy we initially had, but Falcon made up for that by giving us access to the online lectures, and bringing in another fantastic cardio guy to redo the lecture. The anatomy guy was monotone and a little difficult to stay awake through, but he did do a good job of pointing out the most important topics. Goljan was as good as people think he is and did an incredible job bringing everything together. I cannot think of a better person to go at the end of a review course. The micro guy was good at micro, but not good in immuno. Immuno was the only subject in the class that I felt I had to go back and watch the Kaplan video. They also seemed to spend the appropriate amount of time on each subject, relative to its importance on the step (most of the time was devoted to pharm, micro, and path, with the rest sharing the remainder of the time). Almost all of them were very good about keeping on schedule and giving regular breaks. Overall, few complaints about the professors, and many good things to say.
Hotel:
The hotel is nothing fancy, but it's nice enough. The beds were Sleep Number beds, so they were among the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever slept in. I definitely did not have any trouble sleeping due to the bedding. There was an adequate desk and comfortable chair, along with a mini fridge and microwave. Room service came in 3 days a week to clean up, which was just the right amount. There was rarely any noise from outside and when there was, it was almost always from inconsiderate fellow Falcon students. The only real complaint about the hotel was the internet, which was about the same speed as St. Maarten internet (which is very slow). Also, like St. Maarten, they kept saying they were upgrading, but it never got better. In fact, it got worse towards the end. They do have a shuttle around the local area, which is free and makes multiple trips a day, but more on that below.
Food:
Breakfast was terrible pretty much every day. There are only two different options, which rotated every day. One day would be cereal, bad oatmeal, bad danishes, and biscuits with very bad gravy. The next day was always extremely runny eggs, usually cold pancakes or french toast some sort of breakfast meat, and toast which was pre-toasted (cold). They always had fruit, but they'd reuse it for a couple days until it ran out. One day you'd have all kinds of good fruit, and the next couple days it would only be cantaloupe and honey dew (after people had eaten out the strawberries and grapes). Some of the fresh fruit was mixed with fruit from a can. We asked them to put out cereal and fresh toast every day, but they never did it.
Lunch was better, but got old very fast. Pretty much every day was some permutation of chicken and/or pasta. Sometimes it was very good sometimes it was pretty terrible. But, it's not easy to have a good buffet for 7 weeks, 7 days a week. I guess most buffets would get old after that long.
Overall, the food was not great, but good enough. It was definitely convenient to just have it there and not have to worry about it. Room Service (for dinner) was also significantly better than the buffet food for breakfast and lunch.
Local Area:
Falon is techinically in Dallas, but it's a good distance from the actual city of Dallas. More accurately, the hotel is in Garland, TX. Garland is a bit of a dump. There is practically NOTHING to do in Garland, many businesses are out of business, and there is almost nothing in walking distance. There are actually only 3 places close by: a gas station, a sex shop, and a marijuana paraphernalia store. That, alone, should give you a good idea of the area. The only restaurants which are relatively close by are mostly fast food. There are some very nice areas, such as Addison, not far away, but they're about 15 minutes by car. I wouldn't say that Garland is unsafe, and I never felt in any kind of danger, but I also wouldn't walk around the area at night. They say that they have the course in Garland purposely so that there's nothing to do but study. And, that may just be true.
Fortunately, the area does have a brand new Super WalMart and a Bally's gym close by. Both are not in walking distance, but there is a free shuttle to both places, a couple times a day. Ballys gives Falcon students a special rate of $40 for the 7 weeks, which is a pretty great deal. Since the hotel does have a refrigerator and microwave in each room, most people had a good amount of food from WalMart in their room. Personally, I find Super WalMart somewhat magical; they seem to have just about anything I ever needed...like they could read my mind. That, or the place is just so damn big that they do have almost everything anyone could want.
Course structure:
Like I said, I liked the setup of the course, and felt they spent the appropriate amount of time on each subject. Their "patented study method" involves recording yourself reading the notes, and then reading them again while you listen to your tape (that's the abbreviated version of it). It sounds a little silly, but I do think it works. It forces you to pay attention to what you're doing and focus on studying. It also forces you to see the information many times over (once in class, once the first time you read through, again as you record, again as you listen, and again later as you listen for review). I made tapes for most of the lectures, and they are definitely easier to review than the areas I did not tape. Class begins at 8am, ends anywhere from 2-5PM, depending on the instructor. Goljan is the only person that goes past 4 though. There is an hour for lunch and usually 10 minute breaks every hour.
The course is given in the hotel ballroom, setup with rows of desks. You can see pretty well and hear perfectly no matter where you are in the room; you're not particularly at a disadvantage, no matter where you sit. Despite this, some overachievers get there at 6:30 AM to secure a front-row seat. Personally, I felt sleeping was much more important. For Goljan days, there was a line probably 50 people long by 6:30 AM, which was (in my opinion), a little stupid.
Overall:
I'd recommend the course and I would take it again, if I had to go back and decide. Some people say that they think PASS is the best review course, but likely for two reasons. One, they're lazy and don't want to take a 7 week course. Two, they haven't been to Falcon. There is just no possible way that you can fit what we learned into the 4 weeks of PASS. It simply is not something that could be done. By the end, we had probably a foot and a half of lecture material. Friends at PASS said they had one book which was about two inches high. I have often heard said that if you are really worried about just passing, take PASS, as they cover the highest yield information. But, if you want to do well (and have the ability to do well), go to Falcon. One friend even said he thought that if you knew the PASS notes inside and out (and nothing else), you'd get a 210. If you knew the Falcon notes inside and out, you'd probably get a 240 or better. I'm not saying PASS is a bad program, but they don't cover as much. Overall, I also liked the Falcon professors better than the Kaplan videos. I don't have my score yet, so I don't know exactly what it's done for me. But, at the moment, I would say that I got my money's worth. Any other questions? Post them in the comments.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
rubbing it in, just a little
To my friends who are still in St. Maarten...here's what you're missing:
Yeah, that's 20 Mb/s, for about $50/month. Sure beat Caribserve's 512 Kb/s for $70/month :)
Yeah, that's 20 Mb/s, for about $50/month. Sure beat Caribserve's 512 Kb/s for $70/month :)
Back home!
Falcon ended yesterday, so I'm back home now, pretty much for good. Although I've been home from St. Maarten for a while, I had to leave for TX pretty quickly, so it just now finally feels like I"m actually back. I'll have to leave again for 6 weeks for peds, and another 6 weeks for OB/GYN rotations, but that won't be for a while, and 12 weeks out of the next two years is pretty doable!
I'm sure there are people that what to know what I thought of Falcon, now that it's over. I'm not going to do it right now, but sometime soon, I'll write a thorough review. Overall though, I liked the course. 2 weeks now to try and remember everything they reviewed. We basically covered 2 years of med school in 7 weeks, and now I've gotta cover 7 weeks of review in 2.
For now though, bed time. Oh...the new iPhone 3G S is pretty damn amazing. But, I would expect nothing less from Apple.
I'm sure there are people that what to know what I thought of Falcon, now that it's over. I'm not going to do it right now, but sometime soon, I'll write a thorough review. Overall though, I liked the course. 2 weeks now to try and remember everything they reviewed. We basically covered 2 years of med school in 7 weeks, and now I've gotta cover 7 weeks of review in 2.
For now though, bed time. Oh...the new iPhone 3G S is pretty damn amazing. But, I would expect nothing less from Apple.
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