Tag: UCLA Health

ACP in NOLA Day #4 “Bad News, Good News, and Great News”

by reissmd, posted in New Orleans, New Orleans (NOLA)

This morning I planned on attending a 7 AM lecture for the 3rd day in a row.  I awoke at about 4 AM and decided rather than playing Duolingo, Wordle, and checking emails I would close my eyes for one more second.  When I next opened them it was 6:58 AM.   At that point it was unlikely that I would make it to the 7:00 AM lecture so I just closed my eyes again and smiled.  What a wonderful feeling it is to get a good night’s sleep.  I finally got my act together and made it to the 8:00 AM lecture and those that followed.  Today was a good day in which I learned all sorts of great tips that will help my patients and me. 

Mid day we met for a quick lunch at the nearby Mulate’s (201 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130) so I could get back to the conference.  The main courses were okay but the highlight was the dessert.  So here at the request of Eric is a photo of a dessert: beignets filled with Nutella. 

Worth every calorie.

The highlight of the meeting occurred today when Patrice and I saw a UCLA Health VIP. Yes, Janet, one of the high level doctors at UCLA Health was at the conference. We chatted briefly then Janet told Patrice that I was a UCLA superstar.  How could I not love that? 

That’s all good news but I’m sure you are asking “What is the great news?”  Turns out that one of my sister’s high school classmates is in town and we will be seeing him tonight.  Many years ago I recall looking through my sister’s high school annual.  I was curious to see what she looked like when she was 18.  I wondered if she looked anything like what I remembered.  After finding her I looked at the other students.  Suddenly I stopped and yelled out, “ANNETTE, YOU WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH SIMON AND GARFUNKEL?”.  As I recall she said, “Who?”.  So tonight we will be seeing Paul Simon perform. Much to my amazement we could buy excellent seats at a very affordable price.  We looked online and saw that balcony seats for his performance in Los Angeles cost far more than we paid for seats in the orchestra section for tonight’s performance. 

Yes, Paul Simon in New Orleans.

Home now.  Too tired to write more. I’ll tell you all about the concert tomorrow. 

ACP in NOLA Day #2 “More Food”

by reissmd, posted in New Orleans, New Orleans (NOLA)

Today I started the ACP conference and Patrice toured the city.  She definitely got the best of the deal.  For example I started my day with a talk about pains in the butt.  That was my highlight.  In all sincerity the talk was very informative and gave me some tips that will help me assist my patients.  I hesitated writing that knowing that someone will make some butt jokes at my expense.  Go ahead I can take it.  The rest of the talks were just okay. Patrice on the other hand took a city tour.  Here is the one picture she sent me.

Caesar’s Palace Casino? Do I need to keep a closer eye on this woman?

The afternoon lectures were okay but none were as good as the 7:00 AM Butt lecture. In addition to going to the didactic sessions we have time to go to the the exhibit hall where all sorts of companies are looking to sell their products to doctors. There are electronic medical records companies, drug companies, and a variety of companies looking to hire doctors. I stopped at one of the booths to talk to a recruiter. I cut to the chase, “Would you consider hiring a doctor of my age?” The rep enthusiatically said, “Yes, yes!”. So we had a conversation and I think we might have a deal. I really liked the look of their booth. What do you think?

I later asked if they knew who their oldest primary care physician was at UCLA. They did not, so I told him it was me.

In addition to looking for a job I was availed some health food in the Exhibit Hall. After all this is the meeting for the nation’s elite internal medicine specialists, of course we eat healthy.

Delicious brownines. Not up to Patrice’s quality. But how would I know, did I eat one? No, I ate two.
Hmmm, maybe this is why I’m so thirsty.

That’s enough about food. Well maybe not.

Tonight’s dinner was at GW Fins (808 Bienville St, New Orleans, LA 70112). It was recommended by my friend Andy, who said he had the best meal of his life there. Andy is from Fresno. Should I have been worried?

The restaurant is in the French Quarter and they had a modest dress code (men required to wear collared shirts). They started us off with biscuits. They looked very plan but beleive me they were anything but.

Very tasty biscuits.

Patrice and I both ordered the Scalibut.  Seems like this day started with a lecture about butts and ended with us eating two. The Scalibut dish was Shrimp, scallops, halibut, and risotto.  Also with a few peas to fool you into to thinking you’re eating healthy.

This was amazing and gone in a flash.

I don’t know about you “butt” I’m exhausted. Talk to you tomorrow.

Baseball Road Trip Day#5 “Home Sweet Home”

by reissmd, posted in Philadelphia, Uncategorized

Last night we made it to the game on time in spite of having to deal with a lot of fan traffic. The Phillies have been playing well and thus the crowds have been large. Philadelphia fans have a reputation of being very loyal but when their teams don’t perform to expectations they can be ruthless.  They had a happy night because the home team scored 4 runs in the third inning and that was all she wrote with the Phillies winning 5-0

It was a well played game and my assessment is that the Phillies have an excellent team. I am sure the Astros would love to play them again this October. I think that is a real possibility. The only recommendation I have for the Phillies is that outfielder, Brandon Marsh, shaves and gets a haircut. See below.

 

As you can tell from this picture he previously played for the Angels. Both the beard and hair are much longer now.

To sum up this trip I have to say it has been a fun birthday getaway. I got a call last night from my daughter in Madrid because it was 1:00 AM and already my birthday in Spain. How wonderful it was to hear her voice. Actually I couldn’t hear her because we were at the baseball game but she followed up the call with a text message.

By the time you read this I should have landed at LAX and be on my way to the office. Yes, after getting home from the game we packed to prepare for an early flight.  Kudos to Patrice for agreeing to get up early so we could get home early enough for me to get to work to see a 1:00 pm patient. I don’t know for sure but I suspect I’m UCLA’s oldest primary care physician and at least today the one with the longest commute. 

We don’t have any other plans for trips until November.  So you don’t have to worry about hearing any more of my ramblings until then. 

Ciao