Happiness

My camera captures happy moments. Let's hope I'm good enough to carry my camera to the upper mountains soon.

Amazing Grace

According to the movie's official website, there are currently 972 arrangements of "Amazing Grace". Amazing.

I must admit my ignorance in that I haven't even heard of William Wilberforce before coming across this movie.

Three other new discoveries..

A blog, podcast and even a youtube clip from st-mathew-in-the-city's vicar. I found this piece particularly refreshing, especially coming from a clergy.

There're 1940 used and new copies of the New York Time's best seller - "The purpose driven life" for sale on amazon. (thanks Anton for your brand new copy). With fame comes criticisms. David Gregory's "dinner with a perfect stranger" and "a day with a perfect stranger" are probably a bit more readable - the latter I started after boarding a plane in Sydney, and finished before I walked into Auckland's terminal.

The movie Transformers brings Sci-fi film to another level.

neighborhood restaurant

Auckland is full of fine neighborhood restaurants: Engine Room in Northcote, Maple Room in Remuera, Fish in Epsom to name a few. Point in Point Chevlier, unfortunately, doesn't quite make the list.

It used to be Point 9-5 a couple of years ago; staffed by a husband and wife team, much like The French Cafe, ensures top notch food and service.

Fast forward to 2007. Their website proclaims "we use the freshest possible produce to offer our diners an unpretentious selection of New Zealand culinary fare"

Well, after yesterday's visit, our impression is that if their food is at all representative of the state of New Zealand culinary fare, we should all stay home and learn how to cook for ourselves.

Finding Johanneshof Gewurztraminer on the wine list was, I'm afraid, the only positive highlight of our visit.

Fifth Growths

Give me a bottle of Chateau Batailley any day, I'll be quite content. If we're to drink a bottle of Lafite-Rosthschild, there better be good company.

I was delighted when I heard a few of my good friends don't have to go through the FRACP clinical lottery next year. Yet I know I'm in good company when I failed to get a winning ticket - for a few of my most respected colleague are left in the limbo as well.

I maintain the written exam is a much more advanced, and better run lottery, at least the marking is computerised.

So, cheers to those who, by default, don't have to study ever again (it might be a rather slippery slop from here on). To those who have to keep up their clinical skills for another year, we can have a bottle of Te Mata Coleraine.

Dani and Me

A friend asked me why she can't find me or my girlfriend's photo on my blog, I have no good answer at all, so here we go. After all, this blog is my blog, not an altered ego of me.

This is the best thing that has happen in the last 6 months, well, let's stretch the time period to a bit further, as far as you want.

Since we're on the topic of "best", for the month so far:

Best neighbourhood restaurant: Fish on Manukau Road
Best Japanese restaurant: Soto in Ponsonby
Best film: The Lives of Others

Aesthetics

Despite all the social, political, educational, historical arguements for and against the traditional and simplified form of Chinese characters, for me, it's a matter of taste.

Do you have any strong feelings about this? Give your 5 cents worth here

Health psychology

A quick glance over this week's latest offerings from various journals:

JAMA:
Does this patient have dementia?

Annals:
Different ways to describe the benefits of risk-reducing treatments
Straight talk about disease prevention
When my father died

The way and extend to which your patient can be influenced by how the doctor "frame" an issue is not exactly ground breaking research. What intrigue me the most is how Dr Van Spall blames herself for not doing enough for her father. Her conviction that, if his surgery was expedited, the outcome would necessarily be better is simpliy beyond me.

To those who lead ward rounds

"...And to that end, as someone much wiser than I once said, we must remember that it is really not as physicians that we meet the sufferer, but rather as persons that we encounter the presence of others who suffer."

Little did I know......

Andrea Kott's piece in last week's JAMA illustrated how no one, can really understand the quality of anyone's life from the outside.

"Poor quality of life" really shouldn't be a comment we make on other's behalf.

The Great Turtle Race

Save the turtle people! "They are going faster then you think"