E-mail from Africa!

Oh boy oh boy, today is such an exciting day, I got an e-mail from George, a youth volunteer in Kenya and it was was soooooooo cute! He was "thankful for the snaps" I sent and I am so happy the pictures arrived safe and sound and in the right post office box. From now on, Mike says he is going to use the word "snaps" instead of "pics".

Today I've also been working very hard on designing a calendar as a fundraiser for the organization I volunteered with with all the group's best African pictures. It's been hard getting a print shop to produce the calendar at a decent price. One store said $25 each!! The best deal I have is $1400 for 100 calendars but I'm trying to get it down to $1000, so that if we sell the calendar at $15 (which some people think is steep) that only means a $500 profit. Oh well. Maybe I should print more, there seem to be quite a few venues such as the upcoming Health and Human Rights Conference (HHRC) at Queen's and our medical variety night that could be good opportunities to sell the calendar.

Speaking of the HHRC, I am in charge of Friday night's events, which will be a screening of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire. Unfortunately I can't get the new longer version of the documentary for public viewing but the 60 minute version is still amazing - I watched it the other night and I could really see how the experience profoundly affected Romeo Dallaire. I really want to read his biography but I'm trying to keep the vow of keeping my reading strictly medical... however my friend Mercedes just called me up for some suggestions on what books to read (I love being that friend!) and all the books I've been meaning to read are for sale on Amazon (The Kite Runner and The Lady and the Panda), so I may just break my own vow (Dear Visa: As much as I know you'll hate me, I need to add these two selections to bring my total up to $39 and get free shipping).

I checked to see if Indigo had cheaper prices, but alas, they do not. However, they sell TOYS online now. Look what I found:

The Chatter Telephone by Fisher Price!!!!!!!!! Wow-wow-wee as Borat would say, I used to have this phone when I was a wee lass and it was nothing short of endless joy to drag it around by its string. I'm so happy they're still being made!!

In my medical opinion, the worst food-related medical term: Okay, so we all know that since doctors or should I say doctors-in-training have to work so hard and starve all day, all they can ever think about is food when they see some kind of pathology. Like caseous necrosis of the lungs is scientifically described as cheese-like and patients who suffer from neurofibromatosis have cafe-au-lait spots. The other day on the gastrointestinal wards my clinical skills group was asked by the gastroenterologist, "what do you do when your patient is passing timbits?" We were completely horrified. Okay, come on, that is just wrong. Tim Horton's should be left sacred.