We are still awaiting the arrival from Amazon.com of Miller’s Anesthesia Two Volume set here at the Extremist’s desk. The delivery date was supposed to be the last week of August but that date has come and gone. Really there isn’t any reason to be concerned about it. There are so many other texts that have to be read that Miller’s authoritative seminal work will just be icing on the already tall cake. How much can a person read at once anyway. My little brain is working overtime to keep up with what I have here now even if it is in Extremist mode. The Miller text will be a wonderful addition when it arrives to supplement what is already on my desk and brief case.

If you examine the side bar you will notice that there are several anesthesia text books that I am currently reading. This service of providing the links to these texts is done by All Consuming. This service has really spiced up the web page and added something that I would not have been able to do all by myself. From these links to the books you can search Amazon and get more information about these anesthesia text books.

Today I received the required book list for the Columbia University Anesthesia program. I noticed that they require the “Baby Miller”, Basics of Anesthesia by Robert Stoelting and Ronald Miller. This is one of my personal all time favorite anesthesia text books and one of the most basic. Being simple is sometimes a very good thing. There is more vital information per page is this non pretensive text than in many of the more authoritative comprehensive ones. In addition to this basic text are the others that I current own listed under my current reading list to the right. Interestingly, the Columbia program also requires a wonderful text, Respiratory Physiology by John West. This is one little paperback that should be absolutely required reading for any one interested in anesthesia. There is an incredible amount of information in the smallish highly densely written volume on pulmonary physiology.

The love of books is not the beginning of evil. Who said that? I will have to do a Google search to find out.

The VPN software, otherwise known as Virtual Private Network, at the University of Southern California has been a real thorn in my side for the past month. I have been resorting to using dial-up for the Norris Library to access journal articles and such. For those that don’t understand the ins and outs of wireless technology, just hang in there and join me so that together we can enter the 21st century. I am anything but a computer geek and had to get major help from the Norris Library staff today.

After spending over an hour working trying to set up the VPN client myself at the Norris Library with my shiny IBM T42p lap top, I gave up and called in the troops. Enter the computer geek. It turns out that IBM and Microsoft have this little tug of war going on with who is going to manage the wireless network on the laptop. Both of these programs, IBM and Microsoft windows internet access managers, were trying to work in their respective setup wizards for wireless access to USC. Maybe this is why I had so much trouble getting the wireless set up at home. Anyway, we had to call into the ISD department to make sure that they were “seeing” my signal from my IP address on the laptop and initiate approval for access on the system from this little computer. This was a complicated process that just required a little fiddling.

This sounds a bit confusing and possibly a little vague but this is due in large part because I still do not know how to set up this wireless stuff myself. It was only by following the very explicit directions that are on handouts at the Norris Library and hands on help from the staff there that I was able to finish the job. Suffice it to say that I am now up and running live on campus with the laptop. Wireless wonderland is now where I live. Isn’t it grand! This will enable me to get everything done without fighting for a chair in the library. I will be able to take the internet with me right here in the lap top where ever I go. This is a wonder and amazement to me. Just a few years ago I did not even know how to spell “internet” and now I am one. It goes something like that.

Five days off from School with no place to go

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will have 5 days off from class room duties. I am going to try to get Jennifer to go out of town with me for a day or so. Maybe I will just pack up a bag and not tell her what is up but just take her somewhere tomorrow. That would be nice especially because she has the next two days off from work. The physiology text book will go with me and we can still enjoy a nice trip and day off together.