Irony

Here is a little irony for you. I just took my second medical school examination (this one only lasted 7.5 hours, rather than a full 8 hours like the first one)on thursday. This examination was on the abdominal and pelvic cavities. Included in that is the large and small intestines, and at the junction of the large and small intestines is the appendix (also known as the veriform appendix (meaning "worm-like" appendix)).

Here is the irony. After three weeks of intense study on that region of the body, one of my classmates had to be rushed out of the exam on thursday to the emergency room. She had appendicitis, and needed an emergancy appendectomy!

After visiting her in the hospital yesterday I found out that she believes her appendix became ill to spite her. When we dissected out the intestines and appendix two weeks ago, she had made fun of the appendix that her cadaver had, calling it "small and stupid."

I suppose her appendix didn't want to stick around where it wasn't appreciated...

A Patriot's Tale

"I have a big ass flag! But I can't remember how I got it."

- Rudy the Patriotic American

Tradition

The Orioles traditional season ending swoon has hit full stride. The O's are 6-13 in September with 10 games remaining in the season against the Tigers, Twins, Yankees and Red Sox. Even the mighty Markakis has succumbed to tradition, hitting .221 thus far in September.

Eric Bedard has continued to pitch well notching his 15th win of the season in his last start to go with a 3.62 ERA. Well...., he's Canadian and I suspect he doesn't give a damn about tradition.

Adam Loewen has pitched well enough since returning from Triple A to post a winning record at this point (6-5). Loewen hails from Canada as well.

Hayden Penn finally managed to post a good start (against the Devil Rays) going 6 2/3 IP while allowing 2 ER, lowering his ERA from 27.00 to 15.43 since being called up at the beginning of September. He's from California.

The O's magic number for securing their traditional finish in the East is 3.

Ditka

Stuff from the last two weeks...

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind here at PSU College of Medicine.

First, I took my very first medical school exam on Aug 31st. It was a 7 hour exam (starting at 1pm and ending at 8pm) with two breaks. The first break was at 3:30 and it last 15 minutes and the second break was taken at 5pm and lasted approximately 5 minutes. I have gotten my scores back and although my grades weren't as high as I have experienced in the past, they were passing, and as the saying goes, "P = MD"

On Sept 5th, I dissected a man's testicles... Gentlemen, you can take pride in the overly-complicated system you manage to maintain down there. It's really not just a "ball sac." Enough said.

Today I had to purchase a opthalmascope and an otoscope... cost: $598. I realize these are fancy names, but these tools are basically magnifying glasses with attached light bulbs. The costs are really outrageous!

Over the past few days we have been dissecting out the long and short intestings, the stomach, the liver, spleen, kidneys etc. A few points of interest:
-the liver is the largest organ in the body
-your gall bladder is a seaweed green color and all the organs, tissue, fasia, and viscera surrounding it are also seaweed green from bile stains... I've seen it first hand! Please understand that the rest of your "insides" are some shade of pink (despite how text books draw them), so the gall bladder really, REALLY sticks out!
-there are three portions to your small intestine, all having goofy names: duodenum (do-odd-in-umm), jejunum (Jay-june-num), and ileum (ill-E-umm, okay this one isn't that goofy).
-your colon starts at your right hip, then ascends up to your right rib cage, then transversus the abdomen following the path of your ribs (you can trace it out with your finger), and then descends down the left side to your left hip, and then travels to the back of the pelvis where it forms the rectum. Despite taking the toughest biology classes Biglerville High School had to offer and 3 biology classes at F&M I was never aware of the length of the colon. I always just assumed it was a short intestinal organ right inside your anus. That ain't true at all! It's big and it goes places.
-here are some funny medical school words that I've run into: gubernaculum (goob-er-nac-you-lum, a ligament that pulls the testes into the scrotum right before birth), lunule (loon-you-all, there are a bunch of these in the body), appendixes applicae (mall fat globs hanging of the large intestine),and lienorenal (lean-no-ree-nal, a ligament extending from the spleen to the kidney).

Sports Column (Gettysburg Times): "Superstitions"

(This Gettysburg TImes sports page column is running this weekend. Enjoy. SAP)

BY SCOT A. PITZER
Times Staff Writer
__________________

Believe in jinxes?
What about superstitions?
Of course not.
I don’t either.
Unless the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing.
I know, it’s silly to think that fans actually have an influence on the outcome of a game.
I’ve heard stories about hardcore sports fans who — in fear that they might snap a winning streak, or harm their team’s playoff chances — go weeks without showering, changing their socks, or shaving.
(Don’t worry. I shower every day.)
Such superstitions are silly.
But whenever your team is 7-5 in December, and must win-out its regular season schedule just to BARELY qualify for the NFL playoffs, fans will resort to anything.
Count me as one of those fans.
Two close friends of mine married one another last fall, so naturally, I bought them the perfect wedding gift: football jerseys.
The female is a Steeler fan, while the male is a passionate Philadelphia Eagles supporter (I know — quite a combustible relationship, is it not?).
As I was forking over the $100 for the two custom jerseys, I figured heck, if I’m going to spend this kind of cash, I might as well buy me one too.
So I did.
A #7 Roethlisberger jersey.
I wore it for the Dec. 11 game versus Chicago.
Pittsburgh won, 21-9.
The next weekend, the black-and-gold ventured to Minnesota.
Again, I wore the #7 jersey.
We won that game, 18-3.
Dumb luck, perhaps, but the Steelers were 9-5.
Playoff hopes remained alive.
The next week, I again wore my new jersey, and we shellacked Cleveland 41-0.
Why ruin a good thing?
I dedicated myself to wearing that black home jersey for the rest of the season.
In Pittsburgh’s 16th and final contest against the Detroit Lions, the Steelers won 35-21, and earned the sixth and final AFC playoff berth, a Wild Card spot.
During the work week leading up to the first playoff game, a clash in Cincinnati against the Bengals, I recall a conversation with Times sport editor Josh Martin.
“There is no way we’ll beat the Bengals,” asserted Josh, also a die-hard Steeler fan, “and then go up to Indianapolis and beat them, and then beat Denver or New England in the title game. It just ain’t going to happen.”
The chances, yes, were slim.
But the Steelers won three road playoff games in a row and, of course, culminated their spectacular post-season run with a Superbowl win against the Seattle Seahawks.
And I watched it all wearing my Roethlisberger jersey.
You can only imagine my fear in June when I learned Big Ben was involved in a motorcycle accident that almost claimed his life.
Miraculously, he recovered, and was slated to play Thursday in the Steelers’ 2006 season opener.
But more trouble materialized.
Last weekend, the franchise quarterback was hospitalized, and doctors performed an emergency appendectomy.
The surgery prompted coach Bill Cowher to announce that Ben would not play against the Miami Dolphins in the season opener.
Great.
Ben’s not playing, so do I (a) wear his jersey for Game #1 — the same uniform i wore when we won eight games in a row last year to close out the regular season — or do I (b) scrap the good luck charm, and dress myself in other apparel?
If I choose option (a), I risk jinxing my own superstition.
Can’t do that, now can I?
Furthermore, if I wear the jersey, and we lose to the Fish, I taint the shirt’s legacy.
When the clock ticked its 11th hour, even though backup Charlie Batch was at the helm, leading the Steelers’ charge, I wore my Roethlisberger jersey.
Pittsburgh beat the Dolphins Thursday night, 28-17.
But I don’t believe in superstitions.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Scot Pitzer is a Times staff writer.

NEWSPAPER COLUMN: Mentzer Family wiffleball bash

Saturday, 090906

My sister’s unforeseen appearance at Grandma Mentzer’s holiday picnic Monday stymied the entire family.
Unfortunately, her wide assortment of knee-buckling pitches didn’t fool anybody.
When the dust settled at Mentzer Field, the Aunts-and-Uncles Team had scored 18 runs off of Jamie Lynn’s right arm.
Somehow, the Nieces-and-Nephews Team scored 19.
As always during these clashes, the unexpected materialized:
• Aunt Vicki and Aunt Sharon each had two hits;
• Dad belted two homers, including a grand slam;
• cousin Megan brought her new boyfriend to the picnic, so of course, the Aunts-and-Uncles Team recruited him. During his first at-bat, he lined one into the shortstop hole. I lunged to my right, barehanded the ball, and fired it across the diamond to Megan, our first-baseman. As she caught the ball, her boyfriend plowed into her. Pappy Mentzer, the umpire, called him out;
• Aunt Patti, the second batter of the game, cleared the vehicle-lined outfield fence for her first career homer, prompting Pappy to say at game’s end, “There were a lot of highlights, but Patti was the one I didn’t expect;” and
• the game went into extra innings. Pappy remarked during the post-game handshake, “I’ve watched these games for a lot of years, and I don’t remember the last time it went extra innings.”
Our statistician is currently looking that one up.
Truly, it was a game our family will never forget.
— Scot A. Pitzer

Labor Day Whiffle Ball Results

(Click on image to enlarge)

Week 2: Predictions from the Pressbox

Ladies and gentlemen, help would be appreciated! My picks are due by 6 p.m. Thursday.

High school games:
Dover at Bermudian Springs
Biglerville at York Catholic
Delone Catholic at Trinity
Gettysburg at Manheim Central
York Suburban at Hanover
New Oxford at West York
Susquehannock at South Western
Pius X at Fairfield
Kennard-Dale at Littlestown

College games:
Hampden-Sydney at Gettysburg College
Penn State at Notre Dame
Pitt at Cincinnatti
Ohio State at Texas

NFL games:
Baltimore at Tampa Bay
Cincinnatti at Kansas City
Philadelphia at Houston
Denver at St. Louis
Atlanta at Carolina
Indianapolis at N.Y. Giants
Minnesota at Washington

Labor Day Horseshoe Results

(Click image to enlarge)