principleintopractice

1-year Blogiversary

 

It has officially been one year since I started blogging (1 year and 4 days if you’re being exact).  Starting blogging as I started third year medical school was probably not one of my smartest moves.  Third year medical is tough, mainly by being incredibly demanding of your time and sanity. All the same, I’m really glad that I finally started putting words-to-website and getting some of my thoughts out there for others to read.  Blogging is something I had wanted to do for a while, but wonderful people though they are, I think my parents might have disowned me if I’d started writing a blog before I’d finished writing my thesis!

 

Starting blogging during my clinical years has led to a couple things. First- I haven’t been able to put the requisite time into a number of the topics I originally wanted to write about (though I plan to get to these topics eventually!). Second- I’m surprised by how much I want to write about clinical situations and my general experiences on the floors. Together, this means that my blog is slightly different that I had initially imagined and that I have a long list of potential future blog posts (as well as a folder on my desktop with a significant number of “started posts” that may never see the light of day or the glint of a readers eye).

 

I sincerely want to thank everyone who has joined me over the past year on my blogging journey. I deeply appreciate that you take the time to read my musings. I really enjoy getting comments and I apologize that I sometimes get too caught up to reply to all the thoughtful responses.

 

I also want to thank everyone who has shared my blog and my posts.  I’ve had a couple big days when some rather “big shot” bloggers have shared my posts (most recently Mark Sisson gave me a big bump when he shared my snuggling post in last week’s “Link Love”) but I really appreciate (and am humbled) that readers like my posts enough to share them on facebook and twitter . One of the fun elements of having a blog (at least for those with a significant nerdy streak) is keeping an eye on the statistics generated by your blog host… more on that later!

 

Exciting News…

 

I’m very excited to announce that I have been invited to speak at the 2013 Ancestral Health Symposium this August in Atlanta.  I attended the last year’s conference in Boston, and am excited to be speaking on one of my favorite subjects, lipids and liver, at this year’s event.  Tickets are already on sale for society members and early registration starts for non-members on March 15^th. The symposium sold out the last two years, so if you plan to attend make sure you reserve your tickets early!

 

In addition to giving a talk on liver and lipids, I’ll also be heading up a panel of ancestrally minded physicians.  The details are yet to be settled, but with a panel including Dr. Emily Deans (of Evolutionary Psychiatry), Dr. Anastasia Boulais (of Primal Med Ed), Dr. Jacob Egbert, and Dr. Don Wilson, I’m sure there will be some interesting discussion exploring how to use ancestral and evolutionary thinking in a variety of clinical fields including psychiatry, hospitalist practice, physiatry, and ob/gyn respectively.  More details to follow!

 

Fun with Stats…

 

As I mentioned above, one of the joys of having a blog (at least for those of us with a nerdish interest in numbers) is keeping an eye on the blog’s stat page.  In addition to showing me which posts are popular and why, it also shows me the search terms that navigate people to my page.  “Principle Into Practice” is a popular google search that navigate people to my page.  Some of the more obscure ones are a little more puzzling (and amusing).  Here are some favorites:

Help me, I’m dating a medical resident

– “Dating in medical school”, “dating a medical student”… some variation on this theme is one of the more popular phrases that gets people to my blog, no doubt linking them to this post . I’m sure that’s not the kind of dating advice the googlers were looking for- sorry!  As for actually dating a med student? Good luck… the first two years are probably more “dating friendly” as the schedule (at least at my school) is quite flexible, but my experience with third year is that your time is generally spent in the hospital or sleeping.  Date a med student at your own peril- they will undoubtedly want to practice physical exam skills on you and they’re probably a bit short on time for making much of a relationship. Also, if you think dating a medical student is bad, I can only imagine the horror that is “dating a medical intern”. Their schedule makes a med-student’s schedule look like a walk in the park!

Can you burst your appendix by eating a lot of pickles

-Umm… no

Can you get out of the country if you have c difficile

– Actually, a lot of people are walking around with C. diff in their system. Problems arise when you have an overgrowth, at which point you probably can’t be anywhere too far from a toilet… (and you need prompt medical attention)

Victoria Principle nude

-This web-surfer undoubtably went away disappointed…

 

Asparagus therapy and human parasites

also

C. diff and asparagus

-I got nothing…

How to sleep during medical school

– My answer? As much as you can, whenever you can.  Refer back to “dating a medical student” if you’d like.

What speciality [sic] in medicine combines clinical practice and evolutionary theory

– I’m not sure, but if you figure it out, please let me know! (Actually, as I’ve argued before, I think there’s a need for an evolutionary perspective in ALL fields of medicine, though perhaps some have more opportunities for evolutionary thinking than others.)

 

Most search terms guide the seeker to appropriate pages, and I hope that my posts enlighten and entertain.  Many of my favorite posts, some of which are also my most popular posts, can be found here on my “Favorites” page, if you’re ever looking for some interesting posts you might have missed!

 

A final thanks….

 

I said it before; I’ll say it again.  Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, and/or comments on my blog.  It’s been a fun year of blogging and I’m looking forward to more posts, speaking at AHS 2013, and continuing to interact with readers, friends, and those who share an interest in ancestral health and evolutionary medicine… and also those who are curious about dating in med school! 🙂