AARP Magazine named Charlottesville to be one of the top ten healthiest cities to live. I believe it because there are 10 billion healthcare providers here! C’ville ranks 4th among US metropolitan areas in the number of doctors per capita. So if you are a shopper, C’ville is like northern Virginia’s Tysons Galleria [...]
Critics are artists who never succeeded or have no talent.
Ever hear that notion before? I can’t believe I’m defending Paula Abdul, but she knows more than Simon Cowell on American Idol. She performed for years and knows what it takes to be a performer. Simon– well, he just criticizes. But in his defense, [...]
Drive-thru beer stores in Ohio always fascinated me. You should not drink and drive, but you could buy beer and drive. Talk about getting a beer gut–you didn’t have to expend any energy to buy a case of beer.
Banks have drive-thrus as well, and I use them quite often. But while at a [...]
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on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Patient Behavior, Psych.
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Magic tricks drive me nuts. How do they do it? One of my friends used to be a magician, and he won’t share any of his magic trick secrets. He taunts me: “No, I won’t tell you how they’re done. But they’re incredibly easy…if not stupid.”
If they’re that stupid, why can’t I figure [...]
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on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Medicines, Patient Behavior.
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“Cry me a river, cry me a river, I cried a river over youuuuuuuuuuu!” Go, Barbra Streisand.
We cry for many reasons: sadness, joy, relief, anger, Clay Aiken finally coming out. (Clay, we love you! Congratulations for being honest and brave!) Weddings are notorious vales of tears, which is why waterproof mascara is essential [...]
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on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 8:46 am and is filed under Patient Behavior, Psych.
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Valentine cards, birthday cards, pen-pal letters– few of these come in the mail anymore. I feel like Charlie Brown going to an empty mailbox. Sigh. Actually, that isn’t totally true. I do get bills. And I don’t mean “I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill, and I’m sitting here on Capitol [...]
“We Are Family, I got all my sisters with me. Get up everybody and sing!” Go, Sister Sledge!! (Where are they now?)
Family is something so powerful, so encompassing, so-ah, complicated. The Partridge Family never had major conflict even though the show started on the premise of the death of Mr. Partridge. Wait a [...]
“Pregnant?” Have you ever asked a person if she was pregnant, only to learn that well… she isn’t! This is when if you had a tail, you would curl it between your legs. What’s even worse is if the person you asked is a man… well, unless it’s the pregnant man on Oprah. [...]
Invisible patients are like bloggers who think they know everything and get to hide behind an anonymous computer screen to spew out anything. An invisible patient is like someone who wants a free refill on their drink but has already left the restaurant, someone who wants their annual state inspection sticker without bringing [...]
Do doctors make the worst patients? I’m sitting in my hotel room in Utah with ice on my elevated right knee. Torn ACL, chipped bone on my tibia, and possible torn lateral collateral ligament. Yippee, everybody dance now!
After skiing for four fabulous days, I fell at Snowbird while doing nothing and twisted my knee. [...]
George Washington never told a lie.
“Father, I cannot tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree.”
When Abraham Lincoln was our president, he was called honest Abe. Wow! And this was before TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and The Donna Reed Show where everyone was so ethical. I’m so glad all [...]
Gilligan’s Island was on for only three seasons, but with all the re-runs it seems like it was on for at least 10 years. Even as a kid, I wanted to “vote off” Gilligan as if it were Survivor. They could have been rescued a million times-unlike the folks trapped on Lost-but nooooooooo, Gilligan [...]
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on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Office Visits, Patient Behavior.
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Vancouver–my kind of town! Why didn’t Frank Sinatra sing something about this magnificent city? Maybe we can get Canadian crooner Michael Buble to spin a song about this Pacific Northwest gem.
I recently spent eight days in downtown Vancouver, and I only heard a car honk once (unlike NYC where cars honk as if they [...]
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on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Patient Behavior.
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Barbra Streisand sang, “Memories, like the corners of my mind…” in the movie The Way We Were. And then she puts her hand on Robert Redford’s face to say goodbye. Okay, I’m all verklempt.
Can we talk? What in the world was she thinking? You don’t say goodbye to Robert Redford. You cling, and plead, [...]
The Color Purple is one of my favorite books and movies of all time. In the movie, I was introduced to Whoopi Goldberg and someone you probably have heard of: Oprah Winfrey. Whew! She was a tornado of strength and emotions.
During the announcement of “Best Female Actress in a Supporting Role” at the Oscars, I [...]
Don’t you love dogs? If dogs had a thumb, I wonder if they would create a peaceful society. Lassie was a loving Collie. Rin Tin Tin was a beautiful German Shepard (not a killer like Cujo, the rabid St. Bernard). Benji was an amazing mixed breed. Snoopy was an imaginative beagle, but never really looked [...]
Nirvana had a hit song, “Rape Me.” Do you know you can actually download that song so your cell phone rings to that? Hmmm. “Rape me…Hate me…Waste me…” Ooo, he was one angry child!
I first heard of Nirvana when I was skiing in Vermont on a rainy day. I was soaked, cold, and had just [...]
I just went to a wedding, and the maid-of-honor gave some good advice to the new groom. “Henry,” she said, “all of you have to do to remember your anniversary date is forget it once.
“When a man and woman get married,” she continued, “he thinks, ‘I hope she never changes.’ She thinks, ‘I [...]
Exercise, the word, might sound like profanity to some people. Perhaps the “ex” reminds people of negative words like exile, extortion, or ex-spouse. But then there are good words like expert, excellent, xmas. Hmm.
I try to come up with creative solutions with my patients who balk at exercise. Could the readers of The Hook [...]
How do you read this advertisement? “It’s All About ME”
One of my best friends says this all the time, and so when he showed me this ad, I thought it was all about– him. However, it’s a vacation ad for Maine (ME).
In the show Medium, the psychic heroine keeps getting a message from [...]
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on Friday, February 10th, 2006 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Patient Behavior, Psych.
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Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
This song makes no sense, but I sing it every year at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Why do I bother to sing it when I’m clueless about its meaning? For all I know, [...]
Very few things shock me. Sexual issues, alcohol and drug abuse, psychiatric issues, people’s lifestylesnot shocking. Sticking a bobby pin in an electrical outlet, current politicsshocking. Health insurance and the way people put their health second to it really shocks me.
Is the health insurance industry turning us into robots?
When I worked in DC, [...]
Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis were steamy until they actually “got steamy” on Moonlighting. Why is it when the boy catches the girl, the magic of the show is gone? Look at The Bachelor– proposal, diamond ring, and poof– end of show and the couple– or even worse, gulp, The Bachelorette II. In Moonlighting, Cybill’s [...]
This entry was posted
on Saturday, September 10th, 2005 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Medicines, Pain, Patient Behavior.
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Who loves Jane Fonda? Who hates Jane Fonda? Regardless of her politics, she did win an Oscar for Klute, married Ted Turner, and starred with her father (who won an Oscar for On Golden Pond just a few weeks before he died).
Katherine Hepburn won her fourth Oscar in that movie as well, probably for [...]
This is a true story, and I’m not exaggerating. A long time ago, I was at McDonald’s and the customer in front of me said, “I would like a Whopper.” The McDonald’s worker said they didn’t have a Whopper. The customer then said, “Well, how about a Whopper Jr.?” This customer got very angry [...]
When I was an internal medicine resident at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA– the “Hospital of the Stars”– I never met celebrities like Mikhail Gorbachev or Mikhail Baryshnikov, but I sure met a lot of other Russians. Cedars-Sinai had a large Russian population in the clinic system, and most of us had to rely on Russian interpreters to communicate [...]
We’ve all heard the question, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” Supposedly, the optimist opts for half full, while pessimists notices only what’s missing.
But in our complex world of so many personality types, is it fair to divide people into just optimists and pessimists?
I would imagine a realist like me [...]
I am afraid to write this column. Very afraid. Normally in my office, I feel like a rock star! I like my patients and my patients like me.
However, there are times when I go from being Bono of U2 to Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl– times when I have to do the unthinkable: take [...]
Blondie sang the great song, “Call Me. ” Even Richard Gere in American Gigolo played that song long before Pretty Woman. Today, with cell phones, *69, and caller-ID, it’s so easy to call your friends, family, mother-in-law, and– your doctor. In fact, it’s too easy.
The phone rings off the hook in most doctors’ offices. [...]
I’m gullible. I tend to believe people are honest, but as a result I tend to fall for stupid things. For example, I once believed a person who said “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary. I saw a wall mount of a rabbit with six-point antlers and was told it was a “Jack-a-lope.” I wondered [...]
When I was in college, a hypnotist came to entertain us. I was chosen to go up, and I did– unwillingly. The hypnotist had a Barry White type of voice, and he wooed me a little with his, “You are becoming sleepy. Your eyes are heavy.”
I don’t know about the other contestants on [...]