Notoriously absent...

That's me! That seems to be what happens when you take on about 100 times more things than you believe you have time for...

At any rate, first the knitting updates:
Rainbow Cardigan: one sleeve left to go!
Socks: working on three pairs, including the first toe-ups!
Ravelry: got signed up, trying to flesh out my page!

Photos due once the camera charger that we left in Maui returns. By the way, Maui was a great place to relax and recover from life. Highly recommended.

I have gotten quite interested in food, both where it comes from and how it is grown/produced. I've been doing a lot of reading, including Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both of which have hugely impacted my eating habits. I have continued to participate when I can in local farmer's markets as well as Jubilee Farm (a local biodynamic farm in Carnation WA).

I have also just read Better by Atul Gawande, which explores how people across disciplines have improved their performance at a variety of tasks. It is a great book and has very concrete suggestions for how to get in the mindset to get better oneself. It makes me think about my own tasks, and how to improve (as well as what to improve). It would be an overwhelming task to get better at everything simultaneously, but if one selects certain areas to improve, over time one can have dramatic effects. This has pretty far-reaching implications both for doctors (in caring for patients) and for individuals on a very specific level (weight loss, organization, study skills, or what have you).

At any rate, betterment is the name of the game. Off to study some radiology!

EDITED TO ADD:
Now that I have accomplished a few things on my to-do list (taxes, studying, cleaning), I want to muse a bit more on what I want to improve in my own life...

1) Environmental impact: I am realizing what a gigantic impact I have on the environment. When I realize how much trash I throw out, how much recycling I dump, how much water goes down the sewer, how much fuel emissions I cause to enter the air, and how much waste is caused by my consumer habits, I cringe. Often, perfect is the enemy of good enough, and I start fantasizing about living "off the grid" and weaving my own clothes out of natural fibers, eating only what I grow, and so on... Then I remember that I am training to be a doctor, and with that career plan there are difficult choices regarding my environmental impact versus my ability to help others in our current system. For example, I have to be at many different locations and many inconvenient times for work. It's pretty hard to walk home 12 miles or catch a bus at 2:00 am, which makes me have to choose to drive a single-occupancy vehicle fairly often. It is critical to use gloves and other disposable safety equipment at work to protect myself and my patients -- at a cost of bags of plastic waste going into landfills daily.

However, I CAN make choices to limit my consumerism. I can go out of my way to take the bus to work when I am able, even if it is sometimes 2 hours each way. I can be conscientious about recycling and yard waste, and sort the trash when I go near the bin. I can eat locally more often by purchasing food at farmer's markets and not from other countries. I can be better at shopping for used clothes. In short, I CAN choose to change my behavior.

2) Academic diligence: It is commonly tossed around in conversation that there is so much to learn in medicine that it is not possible to learn it all. Consequently, I often arbitrarily decide when to throw in the towel regarding studying, believing that each bit is just a drop in the bucket. Now that I have settled into my future specialty, I know that I need to learn about everything, as much as possible. There is no time like the present to dig in and add some knowledge!

3) State of mind: Complaining is dangerous. In the book Better, Dr. Gawande discusses lunch time conversations between health professionals digressing into complaints about things out of their control -- resulting in everyone going back to work in a worse mood and more burned out than before. THIS IS NOT NECESSARY! If I surround myself with people who are committed to either appreciate their life or change it, and learn to stop (or at least reduce) my complaining, I am pretty sure that I can be both happier and more effective. Here's to change!

Let's see how I do with these three things, for starters. No small task, but manageable nonetheless.