TIVO has ruined my life…again

Last year my old roomie introduced me to the wonders of TIVO and I’ve never been the same since. At home, we got DVR. Yet since I’m away for this month, I have no Cable or internet hat my place. I do have basic TV channels (except for NBC… NO OFFICE!!! I’m dying inside), and at least I can keep up on my regular shows, but the problem is now I have to watch everything on time the day it’s on. I’ve become so accustomed to being able to watch whatever whenever, that now it’s so hard to go back to normal viewing. It’s kind of limiting my activities here. I have to rush home everyday if I plan on watching anything. I might have to give up a couple of shows for a month if I want to go out and about to play around here in Florida. Now comes the hard decision of which shows to let go. Lost is definitely a must see, don’t even dare tell me I can’t watch that. Do I give up Prison Break? Gilmore Girls? Smallville? Grey’s Anatomy? What to do, what to do. Damn these modern electronic wonders! Hmm…maybe I watch too much TV and I should give it up? Nah, that’s can’t be the problem.

An Interstate Runs Through It

I just recently drove down from NY to Orlando, FL for my next med school rotation (more on that later). I-95 is long. Really long. No, really, it’s really, really long. Just from NY to Florida I took about 18 hours.

Anyways, here are some tidbits I learned along the way:

1) I have to pee every two hours. If I don’t, bad things may start happening. This is even while I’m fasting and can’t drink all day. Every two hours. Or bad.
2) Virgina is a long state to drive through, and it’s all looks the same. BORING!
3) JC rules the airwaves. There is a plethora of Christian rock radio stations the minute you hit Virginia. I didn’t even know there was such a demand for it. That and classic rock. People really love their classic rock and their savior. Favorite song so far, that I have heard numerous times, is Dirty White Boy.
4) The town of Yemassee, SC has water that tastes and smells like Sulfur. I thought maybe it was just the hotel I was staying at, but no, even at Denny’s it smelled and tasted odd. Travel down I-95 a little further, and the air smells like sulfur too. Yummy!
5) They still believe in smoking down South. In the two places I stopped to eat, they had smoking sections in the restaurants. One place was smart enough to put their non-smoking section in between 2 smoking sections, which were separated by a big white lattice screen, so really, they were just open onto each other. I don’t know why they even bothered to have separate sections. I think I’ve been too spoiled with the whole no smoking thing in restaurants and bars up North. I hate smoke. HATE IT!!!!
6) I can not hit high notes. I should stop trying to sing like Kelly Clarkson.
7) I made a friend ( pic of bug on car). It was quite fond of my car and refused to leave.
8) People in the south love their pig. When ordering breakfast at Denny’s, I tell my waitress no bacon or sausage with my eggs. She raises her eyebrows, looks at me for a few good seconds as if she doesn’t understand me, so I repeat no bacon or sausage or any kind of meat, just the eggs and pancakes. She looks at me again and says, “No bacon or sausage? That’s the strangest order I’ve ever gotten.”
9) Bugs like fast moving cars. They’re splattered all over the grill of my car. The further south I got, the bigger and splattier they got. You could actually hear the thuds as they hit the windshield. (insert pic).
10) It’s still summer down South. When I left New York, it started cooling of, around 65. The second I hit Florida, 90’s and humidity. Nice.

Haters

I hate haters. Now, I don’t mind people teasing me about things I watch, I know I watch lots of random TV, everything from Lost, Prison Break, Smallville, Veronica Mars, Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, lots of toons, teen shows and on and on. So in general, I try to keep an open mind and not judge people of their viewing pleasures and let them watch as they please. Yet I can’t seem to get the same consideration.

Living with 3 other guys for a month, I’ve gotten nothing but annoyance and headaches from them for my TV watching. It’s not the amount of TV I watch, just the shows. I’ve been mocked for watching Gilmore Girls, it’s too girly and too talky and I’ve been compared to a 12 year old girl. I’ve had Smallville ripped apart and criticized for everything from Lois Lane not being hot (but Lana being very hot), the fact that Superman can’t fly yet (ad nauseum), stupid plots that aren’t believable (hello?! It’s a show about an alien with superpowers!) all while the show is going on. I’ve been ragged on about Prison Break because it isn’t believable. Lost isn’t a good show because it’s too convoluted and doesn’t answer any questions. All of this happens as I watch TV. The live commentary makes me not want to watch anything. All they like to watch all the time is Scrubs, the same episodes all the time (on DVD). They go nutty, laughing like crazy. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Scrubs. I’ve rushed home many a Tuesday just to watch it, but when people constantly hype something over and over, it kind of kills it for me. It’s the reason I never watched Forest Gump for 10 years. People hyped that movie up like crazy, how it was the bestest ever, and I lost any kind of interest to watch it until recently and only when there was absolutely nothing else for me to do. (For the record, I didn’t think it was that wonderful.)

For a brief second I start to second guess myself, then that doubt goes away instantly as I see how excited they get about Friday Night Smackdown (that’s wrestling for those not in the know). This from the people who tell me my shows aren't believable. Kind of ironic, no?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Yaya the photographer

All I have to say is, Little Women.

You absolutely must watch this

Down South

So I’m in Orlando for the month of October doing autopsy pathology, which so
far is a real nice rotation/vacation. I get to participate in autopsies when
there are any, and when not doing that I get to hang out and observe what the
pathologists do, which is cool because before I started med school I had this
thing for autopsies and pathology. I’ve moved onto Anesthesia, but I’m happy
to delve into some guts (literally) just to see if it’s something that still
interests me (kind of). It’s so chill, the people are nice, stress free, and
no patient contact (I LOVE IT!!!). Just coming off doing emergency medicine in
possibly THE busiest ER in the Bronx, it’s nice not to have to deal with any
people. Look at slides, look at guts, take 2 hour lunches (too bad I’m
fasting, instead, I play on the internet), read a book. So chill. LOVE IT.
Although I kind of get bored at times. Whatever I’ll take it.

People down here are funny. They don’t know what to do with my name. Normally
I just say my name is Ahmed (silent h), I don’t even pronounce it Arabic style
(pronounce the h). Usually I get “Hi Ed, nice to meet you” (I guess people
hear I’m Ed, which is odd, because I always say I’m Ahmed or my name is Ahmed,
so they must think I have a stuttering problem or I’m confused and need a
second to think about my name (I’m I’m Ed or my name is… I’m Ed). However,
Florida seems to be whole other beast. I’ve gotten Imhead, Ameed, Ahmet (at
least it’s a real name), and my two favorites: Ahem and Matt.