Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

This album is catching on fast. I purchased it three weeks ago. Since, then I've heard its songs on two simultaneous episodes of "The O.C." (not exactly a bad thing, since the show has featured Modest Mouse)

In medical school, we were graded on a three point scale: Honors, Pass, and Fail. If I had to grade this one, I'd give it a pass, a very high pass. It just misses the top score because of it's lack of innovation. The band's sound is a diverse mix of both American and British indie rock. Listening to it simultaneously reminds me of The Cure and Sonic Youth. More recent influences are Interpol and Franz Ferdinand. The good thing is that none of the songs sound exactly like any of the group's predecessors.

Despite what I've written above, I find this album impossible not to like. Both the songwriting and musical proficiency of the band are exceptionally competent. The songs themselves are very catchy. It only took two listens for the stronger tracks to get stuck in my head. Also, the rhythm section is the best I've heard in years.

Containing 14 tracks, the album is quite diverse. If someone was interested in downloading the the rockers, I'd suggest the first three tracks "Like Eating Grass" "Helicopter" or "Positive Tension." For their pretty side, I'd try "This Modern Love" and "So Here We Are."

Coming Soon

Just because I haven't written doesn't mean nothing's happened. Look for future blogs on landscaping my house, buying a laptop, and Silent Alarm by Bloc Party.

Sigh of Relief

It's been over two weeks since my last blog. I have a good reason for this. I just took the Emergency Medicine Oral Board Exam. If I pass, I'll officially become a specialist.

The exam itself was such a unique and artificial experience. It consisted of case simulations. The examiner would play multiple parts (patient, patient's family, nurse, consultants) and I would be the doctor. Typical encounters included:

Me: "What do I see when I enter the room?"
Examiner: "You see a 56 year old man clutching his chest in obvious pain."

Me: "Sir, what brings you to the hospital today?"
Examiner "Well, doc, I was mowing my lawn and I suddenly felt this terrible pain in the center of my chest that goes to my back."

Me: "Nurse, please place an IV in the patient and obtain a chest x-ray."
Examiner: "The IV is placed and here are your results" (I would then be handed an x-ray)

The case would end when I sent the patient home or transferred the patient to the care of another doctor (i.e. the cardiac surgeon). I was graded on how well I gathered information, the treatment I administered, and my understanding of the case when I had to explained it to the patient or another doctor.

The whole environment was very artificial. I likened the experience to playing a game and I was getting better with each case (simply because I was learning the game). A friend of mine who took the exam agreed: we'd hate to fail it and have to retake it, but if we did we would definitely pass.

Look to the Right

I've made some tweeks to this site. The links are mostly pictures. "The Nonsense" is Derek Harper's blog, but he hasn't updated it since March 10th.

I'm working the overnight shift tonight. For those of you working shift jobs, I highly recommend working the Spring DST time change. You'll have one less hour of work. That's a lot better than having one less hour of sleep or going out or whatever your Saturday night consists of.

This backfired on me when I was in Residency. Two years ago, at the St. Luke's Bethlehem Emergency Deptartment, during the one minute transition from 1:59 to 3:00, an entire hour's worth of patients came in. That meant less time for more work. Hope that doesn't happen tonight.