YankeeVox

Taxes and ambulance billing

2012-01-05T12:42:00.003-05:00

First of all, happy New Year! May your 2012 be happy, peaceful, and safe.

The Journal of Emergency Medical Services ran a feature on their website today detailing the Derry, NH Fire Department's proposal to raise the rates for their ambulance service. Derry FD is asking for "an approximately 10 percent increase in its ambulance fees," according to the article. This request has precipitated, predictably, a whirlwind of support and opposition. And that's a good thing. The debate over how to fund / pay for EMS is an important one to have, and it will hopefully lead to better public understanding over what EMS is and how it fits into the civic and social fabric in the United States.

One popular objection, which Derry Councilor Janet Fairbanks raises here, is that since Derry FD is a municipal department, it is funded by tax dollars and charging residents for ambulance service is "double-dipping." This is an understandable, but flawed, position. The fact is that tax dollars provide only that an ambulance and a properly trained and equipped crew will show up at your door. Tax dollars do not cover service you receive once the EMS crew enters your home (Chuck Hemeon, the Emergency Services Director for Derry, makes a similar point in the article).

The analogy of utilities is helpful here. The residents of Derry--or any town--all pay the same rate for their electricity. This is a flat fee, universally levied, that provides them with the availability of a service. But each household pays a different amount each year on their electric bill based on how much, or how little, they used that service. In the context of municipal departments, EMS is the same way. Your tax dollars mean there will be an ambulance available if you need one, but that does not automatically translate to free healthcare.

Misplaced innovation

2011-12-16T15:28:00.004-05:00

I recently received an email from the Dartmouth alumni relations office which contained a link to a news item with the headline "Engineering students challenged by Professor John Collier and President Jim Yong Kim to develop solutions to high-risk drinking." Gamely I followed the link (the article can be read here: http://now.dartmouth.edu/2011/11/dartmouth-engineering-students-help-tackle-binge-drinking/), and I must confess I was disappointed with what I read.

Students in ENGS 21, Dartmouth's undergraduate "Introduction to Engineering" class, were tasked with tackling the underage binge-drinking epidemic on campus. I have written before in this space about the lack of personal accountability when it comes to underage drinking. I reject the assertion that illegal consumption of alcohol is an inevitability for, much less the prerogative of, college students. The current Dartmouth administration (with which I largely have no problem) inexplicably ignores this reality, though it is quick to boast--hypocritically, if not necessarily inaccurately--that Dartmouth is the training ground of future world leaders and problem solvers.

Anyway, there have been a lot of useful, even brilliant products and systems to come out of Engines 21 over the years. But that is all the more reason that this current initiative is a poor allocation of resources. Let the engineering students work on solutions to problems that need to have solutions engineered for them. As for underage binge drinking, the solution is simple enough: DON'T DRINK UNDERAGE.

Happy birthday Dartmouth!

2011-12-13T14:22:00.005-05:00

The Dartmouth College charter was signed 242 years ago today. The first class of students actually didn't arrive until 1771, but the official beginning of the College was on December 13, 1769. What a remarkable journey the College has undertaken! Dartmouth lore is well-known to its undergraduates and alumni, but every now and then you come across a surprising tidbit all the same. Imagine my surprise, for instance, when I learned of the Dartmouth Peace Conference, a 1960s-era series of summits between intellectuals from the United States and the Soviet Union. Although later iterations of the event were held away from New Hampshire, the conference retained its name based on the original host site. The founder of the Dartmouth Peace Conference was none other than my own uncle, Norman. What a small Dartmouth world.

Dartmouth athletics is getting back into the swing of things after taking a break for fall term final exams. The men's hockey team beat up on Sacred Heart on Sunday, winning by a score of 4-1, while the men's basketball team turned in a respectable, albeit losing, effort against Notre Dame. The women were in action as well, but since I didn't watch any of their games, I don't have the scores right at my fingertips.

Speaking of athletics, I have recently rediscovered the joy of playing squash. My friend Evan and I were playing tennis weekly during the summer and early fall, but as the weather turned cold and the snow began to fall, we were forced to move indoors. I never really got the hang of racquetball, but squash I like. I have no formal training whatsoever--which means my backhands occasionally look like a cross between a tennis swing and a ping-pong stroke--but Evan has been teaching me strategy and technique. Our games are getting closer, too. No longer am I counting the number of points I win; now I'm counting the number of games I win. And soon I hope to start counting my record of games won and lost (though at the moment it would be Miami Dolphins-esque).

In other news, scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider have announced that they still don't know if there is such a thing as a Higgs boson. But they might know by next year. Thanks for the update, CERN.

West Coast

2011-12-07T17:23:00.002-05:00

Ellen and I flew to California this past weekend to see my father- and stepmother-in-law. Unlike our last trip to the West Coast, no tropical storms interfered with our travel, and the whole thing went remarkably smoothly. (Ellen is actually still out there, attending a conference in San Francisco.) We hadn't seen them since last December, and it was great to spend a couple days catching up. We don't make it out that way very often, and all four of us are glad we did!

Ellen will be the first to admit that her hometown, Quincy, is a bit on the small side. It might actually be a true one-stoplight town. Regardless, we found no shortage of things to do to amuse ourselves. In addition to just sitting and talking, we went wild Christmas tree hunting (more on this later), walked around Ellen's tiny hometown, attended her longtime church, and Ellen and her father taught me how to skip rocks. By the end of our brief sojourn to the creek, I was really getting it down. Either they're excellent teachers or I'm a quick study. Indubitably the former.

Quincy is closely entwined with the Plumas National Forest. Evidently, you are allowed to cut down Christmas trees in national forests (provided you buy a permit, of course). So that's exactly what we did. The four of us piled into my father-in-law's 1972 Ford pickup and away we went, first to obtain a permit and then off into the forest. When we found one that had just the right height, width, color, and shape, Ellen's father went to work. Armed with an axe and a bow-saw, the poor tree never stood a chance (although it took its best shot at revenge against my shins as we dragged it back to the truck). It was, I have to say, a lot more fun than simply going to a lot and pointing to one.

I'm back on the East Coast now, bracing for the 2-6 inches of snow predicted for tonight. I don't mind the coming snow at all (although I have been delighted by how late the temperatures have remained in the upper 40s and 50s); I just wish Ellen were here too. Only three more days!

Gold medal

2011-11-29T17:10:00.003-05:00

The World Youth chess festival wrapped up in Brazil this week. The U.S. delegation turned in a phenomenal result, capturing the gold medal in the U8 Open and the silver medal in the U10 Open sections. Awonder Liang and Ruifeng Li, respectively, accomplished these remarkable feats. (Incidentally, I still outrate Liang by more than one hundred points, but seeing as he's seven years old, I don't think that's all that impressive!) Other top American finishers were Sarah Chiang (Girls U14) and Jeffrey Xiong (U12 Open). Congratulations to all of the competitors, and thank you to the trainers, coaches, and families for all of their support of U.S. chess in general and these U.S. chess players in particular!

Speaking of chess, I would be remiss for failing to mention that the New York Knights won a dramatic U.S. Chess League championship match last weekend. This is their first title since 2009 and second overall (not bad for a league that's only in its seventh year!). Top board GM Georgi Kacheishvili also won Game of the Week honors for his victory over Chicago GM Mesgen Amanov, which he concluded in fine style with the rare and difficult bishop-and-knight versus king checkmate. Congratulations to the Knights!

As for me, I don't have any tournaments scheduled for the near future. I may play a match sometime next month, but otherwise I will just wait and see what the tournament calendar brings my way. There are a couple upcoming events that look interesting, but for various reasons the scheduling won't work out. It's a bummer, but I'm trying to use the time to study and improve so that when I do return to tournament play I will be stronger than when I entered my winter hibernation.

And while I'm at it, a hearty congratulations to my friend Dave Carter, who last month was once again crowned Vermont State Chess Champion following his perfect score at the Vermont Open in Middlebury, VT. Way to go, Dave!

Whistleblowers and anonymity

2011-11-15T16:37:00.005-05:00

The title of the article in last Friday's New York Times summed it up: "Ombudsmen Gave Whistle-Blowers' Names to State Agency." Evidently, employees who care for developmentally disabled patients have long been promised anonymity for reporting potential cases of abuse and neglect, but they have not actually been receiving it. The identities of employees who make such reports have been routinely forwarded to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, which is in ultimate charge of many of these patients.

While the reports themselves must obviously be forwarded in order for the situations to be investigated and, if necessary, rectified, including the names of the employees filing the reports seems counterproductive at best and malicious at worst. Including the "whistle-blower's" name does nothing to aid the state in its inquiry. What it does do, however, is raise the specter of reprisals, which in turn disincentivizes employees from making reports.

Reporting cases of suspected abuse and neglect is not confined to employees of mental health institutions. In several states, EMS providers are "mandated reporters." As the name suggests, this means that if we encounter an instance of abuse or neglect--for both the pediatric and geriatric populations---we are required to file a report with the appropriate state office. To my knowledge, there is no assumption of anonymity that goes along with a mandated report. That's not a big deal, at least in my eyes, because we're told up front what to expect.

Whether or not there should be anonymity for whistleblowers is a different, though not entirely unrelated, question. It seems to me that there should be some sort of protection for those who speak up on behalf of those who can't be their own advocates. I'm not sure if complaints submitted entirely anonymously are the best way to go, but the ombudsmen know who came forward with which report. It's the facility administrators who are kept in the dark, which seems wise. The temptation to discourage reporting by wielding the threat of reprisals would be too great for some unscrupulous management teams to resist. Not all, maybe, but even one is too many. And as a measure of protection for the facilities themselves, the ombudsmen are well-equipped to do a little investigating of their own if a pattern of obviously specious complaints emerges.

Ultimately, New York's bait-and-switch with regard to whistleblower anonymity comes at the cost of the patients' welfare. And whenever it's the patient who loses in the end, something needs to be fixed.

Back on my feet

2011-11-03T15:11:00.002-04:00

I'm now one week post-oral surgery and I'm pleased to report that my recovery has gone incredibly smoothly. The first few days following surgery went by in a blur of soft food and NSAIDs, but I diligently followed the oral surgeon's post-operative instructions and really haven't encountered any complications so far. The swelling was minimal and I was fortunate to avoid the dreaded "dry socket."

Ellen has been a wonderful care-giver. There is no way I could have done this without her. She even organized a movie night with our church Community Group on Saturday at our apartment because she knew that I would be feeling lonely after three days on the couch. What an amazing woman; I am so blessed to have her. And the outpouring of encouragement and support from the church body as a whole has been a huge help as well.

I returned to work on Monday unsure of how my body would stand up to a full twenty four hour shift. Fortunately everything went well and I was able to take all my medicine at the appropriate times. Going into the shift, my biggest fear was that my NSAID pain reliever would be inadequate. I was prescribed Percocet to take if necessary, but taking it on Monday would have meant I could not continue working. Fortunately the Toradol did its job and the pain remained manageable throughout the day and night.

At this point I am optimistically declaring myself fully recovered, and while I still have to complete my course of antibiotics, I am otherwise medication-free (and very much looking forward to my first steak!).

Oral surgery

2011-11-03T11:41:00.005-04:00

I had three wisdom teeth removed last Thursday. All things considered, the process went extremely smoothly, as well as I could have (realistically) hoped. In anticipation of being unable to work my normal shift on Friday, I shuffled my schedule and ended up working two twelve-hour shifts on the preceding Sunday and Wednesday. I got saddled with a late call on Wednesday, so I got home later than planned, but fortunately there was still time for dinner before entering my pre-operative fast at midnight. And since Ellen prepared a special "last meal" homemade pizza with hamburger and veggies, I would not have wanted to miss that.

Intellectually, I knew that the fast was for the best, and that it would be highly unsafe to eat or drink just before general anesthesia. My stomach had other ideas, though, especially when I joined eight other men from the church for our Thursday morning study ... which takes place in a bakery. My resolve held in the end, and I arrived at the oral surgeon's office hungry, thirsty, and nervous.

Once I checked in, there was very little waiting-around time. The assistant brought me back to the procedure room and got me all situated. This included taking a set of vital signs and asking me what kind of music I wanted piped in through the overhead speakers during the procedure. That all set, the oral surgeon came in and answered any last questions I had, and then it was time to get started. The most discomfiting part of the experience was actually when the assistant removed my glasses. I would have preferred being able to see what was going on while I was still awake.

Near the end of the procedure, I became faintly aware of the oral surgeon working in my mouth, but I didn't feel any pain. And once he was all finished, the assistant helped me to the recovery area and went to retrieve Ellen, who had been in the waiting room the entire time. They didn't keep me in recovery long--somewhere between five and ten minutes--and then released me into Ellen's capable hands. I had already filled all my prescriptions earlier in the week, so all that was left to do was be driven home and begin the recovery process.

Off-season

2011-10-29T14:50:00.003-04:00

I doubt I am alone in dividing the calendar year into not four seasons but two: Baseball season and the off-season. As of this morning, we are officially into the latter (in my eyes, the unofficial end of baseball season is whenever the Yankees play their last game). The St. Louis Cardinals were crowned Major League Baseball champions last night, and deservingly so. As late as mid-August, they were almost as far back in the playoff race as the Boston Red Sox were ahead (sorry, I couldn't resist). But they came storming back, and it wasn't until extra innings on the final game of the regular season that their playoff berth was secured.

Postseason highlights included their Game 5 contest against the Philadelphia Phillies, in which aces Chris Carpenter (St. Louis) and Roy Halladay (Philadelphia) turned in a pitchers' duel for the ages, and Thursday night's dramatic come-from-behind-twice victory in which they were down to their final strike on two separate occasions. Although I had little interest in either the Cardinals or their foe, the Texas Rangers, I will freely admit that it was a terrific series.

The World Series may be over, but the 2011 season is not completely in the books just yet. Over the coming weeks, the regular-season awards will be announced (although the announcements don't come until after the World Series, the selection takes place before the playoffs begin to prevent players' postseason performances from influencing the voters). I have a feeling Justin Verlander will get the Cy Young Award, although I would selfishly prefer to see him named Most Valuable Player so that C.C. Sabathia can receive the Cy Young. And after all the awards have been handed out, it will only be a few more months until pitchers and catchers report to spring training and we do it all again!

What's in a name?

2011-10-28T11:18:00.005-04:00

I couldn't help but notice the release of Roland Emmerich's new film, Anonymous. The movie, which opens today, deals with the question of authorship of Shakespeare's plays and posits that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is the true playwright. This theory is almost universally acknowledged as nonsense, and more than a few scholars and critics have pointed out that the film is so unbelievable that it actually serves to undermine its purported champion's cause.

As I understand it, the assumption underlying the so-called Oxfordian theory is that an uneducated man like William Shakespeare could never have written such dizzyingly complex plays as are attributed to him. Notwithstanding the flimsiness of that argument in the first place, I find it far more compelling to ask how Edward de Vere, who died in 1604, could have written more than half a dozen of Shakespeare's plays from beyond the grave.

Conspiracy theorists will exist no matter where you turn, and I'm not deeply offended on intellectual grounds by Anonymous (which, incidentally, I have no plans to see). But I just can't quite see the appeal of making a movie like this one; who would want to go see it? Wouldn't it be far more satisfying to spend time in the real Shakespeare than speculating about who else might have (but didn't) pen the works? I have enjoyed many of Emmerich's other offerings--especially Independence Day and The Patriot--and I suppose only time and box office receipts will tell if his directorial star power will outweigh such a ridiculous premise. As my college Shakespeare professor put it, "New evidence can always surface. But until it does, who wrote Shakespeare's plays? William Shakespeare."

In other news, we had our first snowfall yesterday here in Enfield (and across the Twin States, it seems). It didn't snow much--maybe an inch and a half--but I'm sure there will be plenty more where that came from. The next storm is already predicted for tomorrow. I'm just not sure I'm ready for summer to be over yet, let alone fall!

FIDE rated at last

2011-10-20T15:31:00.002-04:00

I played in the Bedford Round Robin chess tournament over Columbus Day weekend in (you guessed it!) Bedford, NH. Expertly organized by Alex Relyea, Nita Patel, and Ken Ballou, the tournament consisted of two randomly assigned (but roughly balanced) ten-player round-robin sections. The goal of the tournament was to generate additional FIDE-rated players in the region.

First, an explanation of the FIDE rating system. FIDE, which is the French acronym for what translates into "World Chess Federation," is the worldwide governing body for chess. It administers the World Championship, assigns international titles (i.e., Grandmaster), and so forth. A tournament can be rated both by the national federation sponsoring it--in this case, the U.S. Chess Federation--and by FIDE, although certain conditions about the time control and the number of games in the event must be satisfied for an event to be FIDE-rateable.

One of the most vexing requirements, in my view, is that an unrated player must play at least three games against FIDE-rated players in the same event and score at least 1/3--either two draws or one win--in order to receive a provisional FIDE rating. Once you have a FIDE rating, all future games played against FIDE-rated players in FIDE-rated tournaments will be FIDE rated (no more minimums). I have previously played in a number of FIDE-rated tournaments, and even faced some FIDE-rated players, but I have always fallen short of the minimum games requirement.

But no more! Provided that each player in the section scored at least one point out of the nine games, every player in the section would receive a FIDE rating. From that standpoint, the tournament was a complete success, as all the requirements were met and approximately a dozen new FIDE ratings were issued (some of the players already had FIDE ratings).

From a chess standpoint, it was a mediocre event. I won a couple nice games, and I saved a couple draws (and even one victory) from difficult positions, but on the whole my score of +3 -3 =3 was a disappointment, especially considering I had the highest USCF rating in the section. There was a silver lining, though (beyond obtaining a FIDE rating, which truthfully was my sole goal going into the event). A couple mistakes popped up in almost all of my games at the event, bringing to light holes in my game of which I had been previously unaware. I will be much better able to target my studying now. My goal is to attain the National Master title, and I believe it is well within reach!

Nobel Prize 2011

2011-10-06T15:24:00.004-04:00

The Nobel Prize in Literature was announced yesterday, which means it's time for my annual rant about "The subjectivity and poor qualifications of the ... committee." Can anybody tell me what a computational linguist actually does (when not deciding on the Nobel Prize recipient, of course)? Anyway, this year's recipient is Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. I'm sure the man is a superlative poet (although be honest now: How many of you had read him before the award was announced?), but I'm still upset that the committee passed over Cormac McCarthy last year.

I will take a rare step down from my anti-Literature committee soapbox to admit that the seeming randomness of the selections can be attributed (rightly or wrongly) to a certain literary ethnocentrism in America. My wholly anecdotal perception is that apart from the classics, few of us read outside our own national borders. When was the last time you picked up a book of poems or short stories by an author whose hometown you couldn't even pronounce, just for the fun of expanding your horizons? Without borderless bookshelves, we will naturally be taken by surprise by any foreign recipient.

Having said that, though, many of the committee's recent selections have been inexplicable. (Actually, I think it is perfectly explained by the wholly inadequate qualifications of the committee members.) There are so many talented authors and poets out there ... what were they thinking when they selected Elfriede Jelinek (2004)? I'm not the only person who noticed the unsuitability of that choice, either; Knut Ahnlund resigned from the committee in protest over Jelinek's selection (it should be noted that Ahnlund is a literary historian specializing in nineteenth century Danish literature ... in what way does that qualify him to bestow the Nobel Prize?).

In happier news, I'm about a third of the way through Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It seems like he has essentially relocated A Moveable Feast (which is my favorite book of his) to warmer climes, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the story.

New Hampshire Marathon

2011-10-06T14:53:00.005-04:00

Ellen ran in the New Hampshire Marathon in Bristol, N.H. this past Saturday. She turned in a phenomenal time of 3:59:55, which eclipsed her pre-race goal of a sub-four hour finish. The race was the culmination of months of training and preparation, and I am extraordinarily proud of Ellen for doing so well. I took the following video of Ellen crossing the finish line:

One of Ellen's officemates--herself an avid runner--and I made the journey out to Bristol to cheer on Ellen. I was coming from work and unfortunately got a late call that meant I arrived after the race had begun. We had a detailed course map, however, so we would drive ahead to various spots on the course and cheer as Ellen passed by. It was a lot of fun!

After the race, Ellen was predictably sore; the rest of the weekend was spent doing as little walking as possible (going up and especially down stairs was particularly challenging). Ellen is more or less back to full strength now, though, which I credit to her diligent training and superior physical condition. The better shape you're in, the less excessively traumatic the race, and the quicker your recovery. Or so I reason. In any event, I'm extremely impressed at how well she is handling everything. Assuming I even finished a marathon (this is less an assumption than a fantasy), I would probably be on the couch the better part of a week before even attempting to get back on my feet.

Way to go, Ellen!!

Playoffs!

2011-09-29T15:23:00.006-04:00

The Major League Baseball season drew to a close yesterday, with the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals securing the American League and National League wild card playoff spots, respectively. While the division races were decided days (or even weeks) before the end of the season, not even nine innings were sufficient to determine the final standings. Both the Yankees-Rays game and the Phillies-Braves game went deep into extra innings before things were decided. And while it's tempting to rub in the demise of the Yankees' nemesis, I think the Red Sox's September record is punishment enough. Actually, I take that back. Watching the Yankees' ticker-tape parade next month will be punishment enough.

The U.S. Chess League is at the halfway point of the season, with the Philadelphia Inventors and the New York Knights tied atop the Eastern Division with a record of 3.5-1.5 (though Philadelphia currently holds the edge on tiebreaks). In the West, the Chicago Blaze are the class of the league, with an unbeaten 5-0 record. The San Francisco Mechanics are in second place with a 3-2 record. Next week sees interleague action, with New York taking on the Seattle Sluggers and Chicago facing off against the Baltimore Kingfishers.

Despite living in Buffalo for more than a year, I never acquired a rooting interest in the Bills. Nevertheless, I am pleased that the Bills' 3-0 start in the NFL season has given them something to cheer about. Whether or not it will last remains to be seen, but for the time being life is good in Orchard Park.

In other news, Ellen is running in her first marathon on Saturday. Everybody wish her luck!!

Medical school EMTs

2011-09-28T09:47:00.004-04:00

Time magazine ran a fascinating article back in July about Hofstra North Shore - LIJ School of Medicine requiring their students to obtain EMT certification and spend time riding on an ambulance. The program is new this year--in fact, everything is new this year, as this is the inaugural class of medical students--but a number of the students interviewed for the article said they were excited about it. One even said it influenced his decision to attend Hofstra North Shore.

The article went on to say that the program was implemented largely in response to the demand for physicians with improved people skills; forcing medical students to operate as part of an EMS unit would help forge their teamwork and leadership abilities. This is certainly true, and I think that the program will achieve its stated goals. I predict, however, that it will also have a number of unintended, positive results.

A common lament among EMS providers is that we don't get enough respect in the medical community. There are a number of contributing factors, but one big reason is that many hospital providers don't understand what we do or the conditions under which we do it. Putting future physicians in the field will imbue them with a better sense of how EMS fits into the patient's overall care. This will, I think, allow the next generation of doctors to better appreciate, interact with and utilize EMS in a way that maximizes the system's resources and provides superior patient care from start to finish.

Furthermore, the medical students will have in their capacity as EMTs a unique opportunity to provide direct patient care long before their traditional schooling would have allowed them to do so. For example, a student at Dartmouth Medical School doesn't do his OB/GYN rotation until midway through his third year, and even then in a controlled environment under close supervision. Some of these students may not make it one month in the field before they find themselves delivering a baby in the back seat of a car, alone.

And even if the students have a relatively "vanilla" experience on the ambulance, they will still gain valuable experience in delivering care to patients in their hour of perceived greatest need. Because no matter the patient's level of clinical acuity, the situation is still an emergency in his eyes and you must treat him with compassion. And that lesson alone is worth the price of admission.

Tunbridge World's Fair

2011-09-16T18:13:00.003-04:00

Ellen and I decided that no one who lives in New Hampshire should go without visiting the Tunbridge World's Fair at least once. The fair, which is in its 140th year, is held in Tunbridge, VT and while I can't figure out where the "world" part came from, it's not definitely not small. Ellen and I enjoyed the livestock and crop exhibits in particular. I, for one, had never before seen a 700 pound pumpkin! (Nor, for that matter, a fifteen-pound zucchini.) Unfortunately the timing didn't work out for us to see the Antique Tractor Pull, but we were able to catch the first heat of the pig races. In case you're wondering what exactly transpires during pig races, it's precisely what it sounds like. Pigs run (surprisingly quickly) around a miniature track and the first one to cross the finish line is the winner. Coming soon to an OTB near you.

Earlier this week, Ellen and I visited Henniker, New Hampshire, a charming town on the Contoocook River. Henniker has two major claims to fame: It is home to New England College and it is, to quote what is evidently the town motto, "The Only Henniker on Earth." The weather held out beautifully, and we really enjoyed our time there. A special shout-out to the Henniker House B&B, which was our first exposure to a bed-and-breakfast and will no doubt set the bar for all others to come.

In other news, the U.S. Chess League season is well underway, and the New York Knights are tied for second place along with the Manhattan Applesauce. The Boston Blitz, fresh off their Week 3 victory over the Knights, currently enjoy a half-point lead in the standings. Next up for the Knights are the Carolina Cobras; I predict a return to form. Go Knights!

Border Battle

2011-09-11T17:28:00.006-04:00

New Hampshire defended its chess honor against Maine yesterday in a ten-board, twenty-game match held at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, NH. This event was held for two years in the late 1970s before beginning a thirty-five year hiatus. It was resurrected last year (New Hampshire won 12-8) and the organizers are hoping it will become an annual event. This year's edition saw New Hampshire field a slightly stronger team than in 2010, and when the dust settled, the Granite State retained bragging rights by a score of 14-6. Maine managed to save face, however, by scoring two second-round upsets; International Master Joe Fang lost to David Oshana and yours truly went down in a topsy-turvy game against Adam Schaff. I had an absolute blast playing, and I hope I will still be in New Hampshire for the 2012 edition!

I recently finished Closing Time by Joseph Heller. This 1994 novel is the sequel to his seminal work, Catch-22, and several characters return. I wanted to like Closing Time, I really did. As much as it occasionally irritated me, I found Catch-22 hilarious. Closing Time, unfortunately, just didn't make sense. I finished it half out of a sense of obligation and half in the hope that Heller would explain it all in the end (he didn't). If you enjoyed Catch-22, you may want to read Closing Time if only to see where all the characters' stories end. But if you decide not to, I wouldn't blame you a bit.

Now that the weather is turning cooler and the leaves are beginning to lose their verdancy, back to school is not far from mind. My schooling is, for the time being, complete, and as a graduate student Ellen works year-round. But DOC Freshman Trips is well underway, and Move-In Day for the Dartmouth freshmen is this coming Tuesday. Ellen and I strolled through campus this morning, and I was hit with a feeling of nostalgia. It's hard to believe that it was only six years ago that I was in their shoes.

And of course, no post published on this day would be complete without a mention of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Every generation has a day that comes to define it--November 22, 1963 for some, December 7, 1941 for others--and I think September 11, 2001 will be ours.

Oregon, Pt. 2

2011-09-07T15:00:00.003-04:00

The travel hassles notwithstanding, Ellen and I actually had a delightful trip to the West Coast. We stayed with a childhood friend of my mother-in-law's in Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River from Oregon (the Portland Airport was actually visible from our hosts' driveway). They have a charming home, and all three of us (Ellen, her mother-in-law and me) were blessed by their friendliness and hospitality.

Unfortunately, our rapidly evolving travel plans meant that we arrived later and left earlier than we had planned, so we were unable to fit in everything we had planned to see and do. Nevertheless, we managed a full day and a half of sightseeing. On Friday, after our arrival, we took I-84 (which I was tickled to discover runs through Oregon, as I am more familiar with it as the road on which I traverse much of Connecticut) to the "Old Highway," which was an extremely scenic drive past a number of waterfalls and other hiking spots. One highlight was the Vista House on Crown Point, which offered a panoramic view of the Columbia River and the surrounding hills and mountains.

After lunch, we visited the Bonneville Dam, which is both a National Historic Site and a working dam and hydroelectric plant. There I was introduced to the concept of a fish ladder, which is essentially a way for fish to bypass the dam when returning to their breeding places in order to spawn. It's actually neater in real life than I'm making it sound. And in a tiny office off of the main underwater viewing area, the official Fish Counter was hard at work. Yes, this person's job is to count the fish that swim past her window.

Next up was a fish hatchery, which featured local legend Herman the Sturgeon. This seven-foot monstrosity has been the star resident for quite a number of years, according to the numerous signs surrounding the sturgeon habitat. A seven-foot fish is, actually, quite a striking sight, especially when the majority of the other fish there are extremely young (it is a hatchery, after all). There was also a simulated salmon run, and Ellen got a number of excellent photos of the fish trying to navigate the man-made locks.

On Saturday we ventured into downtown Portland, which is a nice little city. It's not New York, but then again, nothing is. We met Ellen's aunt, whose health is beginning to fail, and had a great visit with her. It's not clear when or if we'll get another chance to see her, and the whole trip was worth it for those few hours alone.

I'm not expecting to do any more significant traveling until early December, so now it's time to turn my attention to the rapidly approaching foliage season here in New Hampshire. I've begun to wonder if the brilliant colors of fall are an apology for the six months of winter that follow ...

Oregon, Pt. 1

2011-09-01T11:47:00.004-04:00

The YankeeVox summer vacation is over. First and foremost, I hope that everyone has come through the recent East Coast natural disasters--the August 23 earthquake and Hurricane Irene--relatively unscathed. Ellen and I were extremely fortunate that we were almost entirely unaffected by the storm (and completely unaffected by the earthquake). As it happened, we were on the West Coast visiting Ellen's family during the worst days of the hurricane/tropical storm, and the only snags we hit were travel-related.

We were originally scheduled to fly from Manchester Airport to Newark and continue on from Newark to Portland last Thursday afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, an unrelated rainstorm delayed our flight out of Manchester for more than three hours, which meant we missed our connection in Newark. Maddeningly, our Newark-to-Portland flight was also delayed, so instead of missing it by a matter of hours, we arrived at the gate literally minutes after they shut the cabin door (the plane had not yet left the gate, but they refused to reopen the door to allow us to board). There were no more flights to Portland that night, so we were rebooked onto an early-morning flight to Seattle instead. A good friend from college lives near Newark, and he graciously offered to let us spend the night with him and his family, as well as providing rides to and from the airport. Thanks again, John!

Once we boarded our Newark-to-Seattle flight, things went more smoothly. We had an uneventful trip and brief layover before our final flight, from Seattle to Portland. My mother-in-law picked us up at the airport, and we began our visit, albeit regrettably about fourteen hours later than we'd hoped. Our time in Oregon itself will be the subject of a subsequent post.

Except for the text message Ellen received from Orbitz partway through Friday afternoon, which informed her our Portland-to-Newark return flight on Sunday evening had been canceled (our Newark-to-Manchester flight wasn't canceled until Saturday, but it was a moot point by then). As Continental Airlines had canceled hundreds of other flights too, their phone lines and website were overwhelmed by people attempting to rebook. Fortunately, we were staying only a few minutes from the Portland Airport, so we drove over there on Saturday morning to attempt to rebook in person. The ticket agent, who was remarkably pleasant considering the barrage of no doubt stressed-out passengers with whom she'd been dealing all morning, told us that the next available flight combination ending in Manchester would be on September 3. If we couldn't wait that long (which obviously we couldn't, as both Ellen and I had to go to work), then she could put us on a flight into Dulles Airport the next morning. With no other options we could see, Ellen and I chose to fly into Dulles.

Sadly, this meant cutting short our visit by close to twelve hours on the tail end, too. It also meant trying to find a way from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire when many trains were not running due to flooded tracks and many buses were sold out. Renting a car was an option, albeit a sufficiently costly one that we considered it an absolute last resort. Finally, we were able to find bus tickets from Baltimore to Boston. And once again, we were bailed out in a major way by college friends of mine. One friend, who lives outside Baltimore, offered to pick us up at Dulles, let us spend the night in his apartment, and then drop us off at the bus terminal in Baltimore in the morning. The other, who lives in the Boston suburbs, agreed to drive us from South Station to Manchester Airport, where we could pick up our car. Ryan and Chris, thank you so much!

By the end of the day on Monday, nearly thirty four hours after we left Portland, Ellen and I had arrived safely in Enfield. It was a great trip, well worth the travel hassle. Pictures and a trip report to come soon!

Turning 24

2011-07-21T12:06:00.003-04:00

I turned twenty four years old on Sunday. To celebrate, Ellen and I went down to Manchester for the New Hampshire Open chess tournament. Manchester plays host to several of New Hampshire's biggest chess tournaments throughout the year, and perhaps none is bigger than this. The tournament is open to any member of the U.S. Chess Federation, but the top-scoring New Hampshire resident in the Open section is crowned State Champion. In the final round I was paired with Black against five-time state champion FM Brad Bournival. Unfortunately, after a game filled with ups and downs, neither side could break through in the end. Our draw gave IM Joseph Fang his fifteenth (!) state title. All in all I was pleased with the way I played, and I had a great time! And it was especially nice having Ellen there with me. Maybe next time I can convince her to play!

Other than the birthday festivities, it has been pretty much business as usual around here. I am in the process of joining Enfield FAST (First Aid Stabilization Team); they are a paid-on-call transporting ambulance company serving, you guessed it, Enfield. The call volume is not high--last year they responded to 132 calls and this year is on pace to be even slower--but the equipment is fairly nice and most importantly it's a way for me to help out and give back to the community. Their biggest personnel need is daytime hours during the week, and that just happens to be when I'm home with nothing to do. I've been granted "ride-along" status currently and I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the paperwork so I can become a full-fledged (or at least probationary) member.

Ellen is doing well; she has begun what will probably be the final year of her Ph.D. and is otherwise keeping busy training for her first marathon. I am proud of her and extremely impressed (but not in the least surprised) by all she has accomplished.

In other news, the space shuttle program officially came to an end today. I've been to Cape Canaveral, and it was an impressive site to visit. I wonder how this latest development will affect the area, tourism and all.

Enfield Family Fair

2011-06-29T15:42:00.003-04:00

The Enfield Family Fair was held this past weekend at Huse Park in, you guessed it, Enfield. Since it took place just up the street and admission was free, I really didn't have any excuse not to go. And as the annual fair is an institution that seems to have bypassed Chappaqua during my childhood, I was eager to see what it entailed. Unfortunately, our schedules didn't work out for Ellen and me to go together, so we each went separately (and I went again with a family from church) and compared notes. Ellen was interested to note that it was extraordinarily similar to the fair that had come to her hometown each year. She said all the rides and booths were identical, although the Enfield fair was held in a much smaller space and consequently had less to offer. While nothing really drew my attention as far as attractions were concerned, I was nevertheless pleased to see this little town placed on the map, if only for a few days.

Speaking of Enfield on the map, it recently received attention of a slightly less flattering nature. According to The Dartmouth, a researcher at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is investigating the link between the presence of a toxin in the algae of our very own Lake Mascoma and the unusually high rate of Lou Gehrig's disease in people who live near the lake. So much for our plans to go swimming this summer.

In other news, the Yankees are back on top of the American League East. Where they belong and where they'll stay.

Summer begins

2011-06-23T16:18:00.005-04:00

Happy third day of summer! Tuesday's solstice marked the start of my favorite season of the year. To make things even better, we had a church league softball game on Tuesday. Warm weather, lots of light, softball ... you just can't beat it. Ellen was a little bit apprehensive about the arrival of summer since that often heralds extremely high temperatures, but she has been pleased to see high temperatures in the upper 60s these past couple days. Not even a rainy, Marchlike day can dampen my enthusiasm for this new season, though.

Speaking of Ellen, she departs on Saturday for a weeklong conference in New Mexico. At the conference, she will presenting a poster summarizing some of her recent work as well as attending sessions of interest and reconnecting with space physicists from other schools and labs. It's an annual conference and this is not the first year she has gone; she's looking forward to being back. I'm excited for her and proud of her, although I'm certainly going to miss her while she's out West.

On the chess front, I contested a match last weekend with Dave Carter, the top-rated player in Vermont. Although I am not the top-rated player in New Hampshire (I come in at #7), we met at a tournament a couple months ago and play for the same online correspondence chess team. Dave, who has been a master for twenty nine years, is an extremely genial fellow and a strong chessplayer to boot. I had to battle back from a disadvantageous position in game one, ultimately securing a draw, and in game two the roles were reversed, with me carrying a slight plus into the endgame. Then disaster struck, however, and I blundered away the game in heart-breaking fashion. Until next time!

Conan O'Brien delivered the Commencement Address at Dartmouth's 241st Commencement on June 12. His speech deftly mixed the humor you would expect from a famous comedian with profundity you might not, and Ellen and I enjoyed watching it (albeit later on Youtube later that day). Congratulations Class of 2011! And perhaps most meaningfully for me, Commencement of two weeks yore marked the two-year anniversary of this blog. Thank you for reading, and here's to years more!

The provenance of leadership

2011-06-22T12:32:00.002-04:00

Below is a conversation I carried on via Facebook with a friend of mine last month. His question: "Are leaders born or learned?" He went on to set the question in a purely secular context (so considerations like spiritual gifting did not enter into the equation) and to define a leader as "Someone who others follow, and willingly. Not a manager - a manager is someone who can spin many plates on sticks, do all the paperwork, keep a business running...a leader is bigger - people follow a leader/obey a leader, etc, but they want to..."

My reply:
"I'm going to go with learned. The cultural relativism card is often overplayed, but here it is useful. Throughout time and space, men have followed other men for a range of reasons that defies any one "inborn" trait. Loyalty itself has no one universal manifestation, and there is therefore no one personal characteristic that can elicit it. Rather, you must grow up in a society, becoming steeped in its constructions of valor/leadership/loyalty, before you can successfully wield them. Some people take to this better than others--which is often mistaken for "born" leadership--but in fact there is no such thing. (Remember, this is a secularly posed question.)"

His rejoinder:
"Rob, I think I disagree somewhat. I have found that some people are just naturally the leaders in any crowd. I've been trained in leadership for over 20 years - heck, I have an MBA with an emphasis in leadership, but I've found that all the training in the world only goes so far. Observe a situation with little kids - why do some kids 'lead' the group? They've no training in leadership or motivation. I've had leaders that I would follow through fire, and other leaders, with the same training, whom I would-uh-not follow...I think there is a very strong element of innate leadership that cannot be taught."

My response:
"Mmm, I don't find the example of children very persuasive. There are a lot of reasons some children 'lead' and others 'follow' ... peer pressure, politeness, timidity/assertiveness, the first kid to speak up happened to have a good idea the others like ... I'm skeptical that these young 'uns possess some transcendent quality that accrues them followers (in part because, as I wrote above, I challenge the notion that such a transcendent quality exists in the first place). I will add, though, that just because leadership must be learned does not necessarily mean that it can be taught ..."

What are your thoughts? Agree/disagree? Leave a comment.

Heat wave

2011-06-16T10:34:00.004-04:00

I originally published this post by mistake on the Collegiate EMS blog to which I contribute. Eight days later, no one seemed to notice. I wonder what that says about how many people read the other blog ... Anyway, here it is now, lightly edited for timeliness.

Last week saw a brief but brutal heat wave, with temperatures regularly topping out in the low- to mid-90s. Those of us without air conditioning welcomed the challenge! Ellen is a big proponent of closing all the windows and drawing the blinds early in the morning to keep the sunlight out, which works pretty well, and I would add to that the less thermodynamically-sophisticated tack of taking a shower in the afternoon.

Dartmouth has been in the news recently for a handful of positive occurrences. First, Charlotte Johnson has been named the Dean of the College. Ms. Johnson, who previously held that post at Colgate University, replaces Acting Dean Sylvia Spears. Second, the Dartmouth rugby team was just crowned the victor at the national championships, and finally, All-Ivy pitcher Kyle Hendricks '12 was selected by the Texas Rangers in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. As of yet I can't find any information on whether or not he has signed with the Rangers or intends to do so.

On a smaller scale, the Upper Valley Church Softball League is finally underway, despite starting the season with a few weather-related cancellations. I didn't play last year because I was in Buffalo, but I had a blast playing the year before, when Christ Redeemer Church won the championship of the three-team league. This year two more churches have joined the fray, and I am thrilled to be back out there!

In other news (and since I can't let a title like this one go to waste), the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two to win the NBA Championship. I admit that the original version of this post concluded with the line, "At this point I have resigned myself to a Miami triumph, so at this point any Dallas victory just seems like dragging it out." I am pleased to see that I was mistaken!

Canobie Lake Park

2011-06-07T10:20:00.004-04:00

Ellen and I visited Canobie Lake Park on Saturday. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. It's an amusement / water park best described as a scaled-down version of Six Flags. I'm not nearly as much into the extreme rides and roller-coasters as Ellen is, but the park offered enough to satisfy us both. And Ellen was able to get me to step outside my comfort zone a bit and join her on some rides that I would never have considered previously. We were amused to note that we occupied a somewhat unique demographic among park-goers; that is, we were neither in high school nor walking around with children in tow. All in all we had a great time, and I would definitely recommend it.

Ellen has been occupied lately with helping her advisor host the annual meeting of the international radar group to which they both belong. The conference, which took place at Dartmouth all last week, gave me a unique insight into what Ellen does. More precisely (since I still have no conceptual grasp of what Ellen actually does), I got to meet a number of her colleagues from around the globe and listen to their conversations about their work. As I've mentioned previously, it is thrilling for me to watch Ellen in her professional element, to see her interact with scientific luminaries and be treated as an equal. I'm extremely proud of Ellen and everything she has accomplished!

Last Wednesday, the conference participants embarked on an "excursion" to Mt. Moosilauke in Warren, New Hampshire. As best I can figure, each year's conference host plans an outing for the attendees that showcases the local offerings / attractions in some way. And on a beautiful spring day at Dartmouth, you just can't beat a hike up Moosilauke and dinner at the Lodj (sic). It was, embarrassingly, only the second time I'd ever summitted Moosilauke. Since I did not participate in First-Year Trips as a freshman (though I led a trip my sophomore year), my first time up the mountain came my freshman summer. And although I had journeyed to the Lodj for dinner a couple times during my undergrad years, this was only my second time up the mountain. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered.

In other news, graduation season is here, and my brother Alex graduated from Princeton University last Tuesday. Congratulations Alex!

2011-05-18T11:08:00.005-04:00

Ellen and I went to see "Beatlemania Now" at the Claremont Opera House two weeks ago. The show, which was the penultimate offering in the Opera House's 2010-2011 season, billed itself as a "Multimedia tribute to the Beatles." I'm a big Beatles fan and I always enjoy hearing their songs performed live. Unfortunately, the impersonators just weren't very good. They didn't look much like the actual band members (which is hard to blame them for, but still, the realism wasn't there) and they didn't sound much like them, either. "John" actually came pretty close, at least with the songs from the early period, but the rest of the band was underwhelming. Still, it was an energetic show and I enjoyed getting to go out with Ellen and see it.

On Saturday I played in the White River Open, a one-day, four-round tournament held in White River Junction, VT. The tournament was small but surprisingly strong; the Open section featured a Grandmaster, a Senior Master, an International Master, a National Master and two Experts. In fact, of the nine players in the section, five were rated above 2180! I took a first-round bye so I could sleep after getting off work in the morning, and I defeated southern New Hampshire Expert Clay Bradley in my second-round game. Unfortunately I faltered at a key moment against IM Danny Kopec in Round 3 before getting blown off the board by SM Denys Shmelov (rated 2529!) in the final round. My final tournament score was +1 -2 =0, which was good for a sixth-place tie. It's hard to be disappointed by my result, but I can't help wishing I'd been able to keep up the pressure in my game against Kopec. Regardless, it was a lot of fun to play, and I'm looking forward to my next rated event (which at this point is looking like a match in June against top-rated Vermonter Dave Carter).

Living in New Hampshire, I've come to accept the fact that many of my neighbors are (for some reason) Red Sox fans. My sports affiliations have, consequently, caused some good-natured friction at work. And after the Yankees were swept by the Red Sox over the weekend, I knew I was going to be in for it on Monday. And sure enough, when I returned to the station following an early-morning emergency call, I was met at the ambulance door by a coworker brandishing a broom.

In other news, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 opens on Friday. Apparently they are starting a new trilogy featuring some but not all of the old characters (Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rusch are back; Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not). I'm looking forward to seeing it soon.

A new APOLOGIA hits newsstands

2011-05-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

The Spring 2011 issue of The Dartmouth Apologia was just released. I just picked up a copy yesterday and have not had an opportunity to read it at any length yet, but I am very much looking forward to doing so! Watch back here for a review of the issue, probably to come in installments starting next week. Incidentally, this is the first issue since the journal's inception in 2006 in which I have not played any role whatsoever, either as an author or an editor. The official website is www.dartmouthapologia.org , but the new issue does not appear to have been put online yet.

Last Saturday saw the second Wheelock Conference on Faith and Vocation, sponsored by the Eleazar Wheelock Society and hosted by Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. As with last year's edition, the conference brought together current students, alumni and others for a series of lectures and panel discussion on the convergence of faith and career. It sounded fantastic, but I was once again unfortunately unable to attend. Perhaps next year! In the meantime, if anyone has any notes/materials from the conference, please let me know; I'd be interested in taking a gander at them.

Excitingly, the church softball league schedule was rumored to have been distributed to captains last night. I haven't seen it yet (my role is, at the most generous, that of bench coach), but I'm raring to get out on the softball field. My glove is just sitting in the closet, yearning to be let free!

In other news, I have recently rediscovered how awesome jellybeans are. Just one more reason I love springtime.

Change is in the wind

2011-05-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

Dartmouth College announced on Tuesday that beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, the fall term would be moved up so that classes start earlier in September and end by Thanksgiving. Currently, the first day of class is often as late as the fourth week of September and students return to campus following the Thanksgiving holiday for another week of classes followed by reading period and exams. I enthusiastically support this change, although neither Ellen nor I will be affected by it. Sending students home for five days only to recall them for a week and a half and then send them home again for three more weeks just doesn't make sense, and all the more so when you have as geographically diverse a population as Dartmouth does. The only potential downside is the overlap between Sophomore Summer final exams and the early sections of First-Year Trips, but that has always been an issue anyway and I doubt it'll be difficult to procure sufficient numbers of non-sophomore trip leaders.

As far as weird sporting happenings go, this one is right up there. The Rockies-Mets baseball game on Tuesday featured a rain delay, which is in and of itself relatively unremarkable, but the at-bat that was underway when the rain delay was called was a bit less pedestrian. Due to injury and fatigue (once pitchers cool down--as during a rain delay--they almost never go back out to pitch when play resumes), there were two pitchers and two hitters in a single at-bat! I'm with the sportswriter on this one; I doubt this was a precedented occurrence!

In other news, Gata Kamsky defeated Veselin Topalov in their quarterfinal Candidates match. His next opponent is Boris Gelfand of Israel; their first game today was a draw. Good luck Gata!

Trauma season is here

2011-05-04T10:44:00.005-04:00

Now that warmer temperatures and longer days are here, people are taking full advantage of the nice weather. Bicycles and motorcycles are now common sights, and with the resurgence of outdoor activities begins what the emergency medicine community calls "trauma season." So please remember to always wear your helmet and/or seatbelt when on the roads and trails and make sure your passengers do the same.

While I'm making public service announcements, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the World Championship Candidates' Matches that begin tomorrow. These are, in essence, the "quarterfinals" of the cycle to determine a challenger for current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India. Participants play a series of knockout-style mini-matches until there is only one player left standing. Russia and Azerbaijan are the best-represented countries with two players each (Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk from Russia; Teimour Radjabov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan); the other competitors are Levon Aronian (Armenia), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Boris Gelfand (Israel) and last but not least recently-crowned U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky. Notably absent is former world number-one ranked player Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who withdrew a few months ago in protest of administrative decisions that had been made surrounding the matches. Good luck to all the participants and go Kamsky!

As I reluctantly predicted last week, the New York Knicks were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I'm disappointed but not surprised by the result. As for the rest of my predictions, the Bulls are not off to a good start in their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, and it looks like the Miami Heat will continue their manhandling of the Celtics. I had predicted the Bulls over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, and I remain confident that Chicago will come through against Atlanta, but it seems that I misjudged the Celtics-Heat series.

In other news, The New York Times published an amusing article about the ploys people have tried in order to sidestep receiving parking tickets. Ever tried any of these? How'd they work for you?

Kamsky repeats!

2011-04-28T12:21:00.005-04:00

Grandmaster Gata Kamsky clinched his second consecutive U.S. Chess Championship title yesterday with a 1.5-0.5 victory over Yury Shulman in the finals. Kamsky is now a three-time winner, with his first title coming in 1991. The last player to win back-to-back titles was Lev Alburt in 1984-1985. The women's championship has gone to tiebreaks and will be decided today; by this time tomorrow either Tatev Abrahamyan or Anna Zatonskih will be newly coronated. Last year's champion, Irina Krush, finished in third place.

Two of my former colleagues were recently highlighted for unveiling their culminating engineering project, a combination blood pressure / atrial fibrillation monitoring system. Adam Strom '10 and Jeff Spielberg '10, good friends with whom I served for multiple years on the Dartmouth EMS officer board, completed this project while finishing their BE degrees this winter. The first patient for the device was none other than Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim. This is an exciting achievement that has great potential. Way to go, guys!

Speaking of Dartmouth EMS, they organized the second annual Northern New England Collegiate EMS Conference this past Saturday at Dartmouth College. Comprised of a series of training sessions and two mass-casualty incident drills, the event was attended by squads from Tufts, Mt. Holyoke, the University of Vermont, the University of Massachusetts--Lowell, Amherst, Colby and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, along with host Dartmouth. I had the privilege to participate in the event, first as a drill evaluator and later as an actor in one of the simulations. It was an impressive undertaking, and I take my hat off to them for pulling it off in fine style.

Pain (not Thomas)

2011-04-20T10:57:00.005-04:00

The government announced yesterday that it will seek to strengthen oversight of the prescription of certain narcotic painkillers. There is concern that patients are illegitimately obtaining and then abusing such medications as OxyContin, fentanyl and Dilaudid. Under the new proposal, physicians would be required to undergo training before being permitted to prescribe these medications. The hope would be that doctors could better identify "drug seekers" and reserve narcotics for patients that actually need them.

Whether or not this proposal will be implemented is unclear, as it would likely require Congressional action before taking effect. Also uncertain is whether or not this would even be a good idea. Drug seekers (people who fake or exaggerate pain to receive strong analgesics that they then use recreationally or sell) have been around as long as pain medication itself, and while it's certainly a dangerous practice that should be curtailed, there are risks inherent in doing so.

Not the least of these is the potential for "false negatives," patients who are in legitimate pain but are denied pain medicine for fear they're faking it. I read an interesting article a little while ago (which I'm unfortunately unable to locate at the moment) in which a physician discussed the relative merit of combating drug seeking versus the elevated risk of denying patients the medicine they need. That particular physician believed that nothing justified withholding needed treatment from a patient, and if the cost of avoiding that was rules lax enough to avoid false negatives but which also allow more drug seekers to achieve their ends, then so be it.

That's not to say that the new proposal would necessarily have this effect. Indeed, if the training were effective, physicians might be better able to identify those patients who are truly in pain (reducing false negatives) while also better weeding out those patients who are simply looking for narcotics (thereby also reducing false positives). Certainly it's a complex issue, and one I'll be interested to watch as it progresses along the often-glacial path to implementation.

First thunderstorm

2011-04-20T10:34:00.004-04:00

To paraphrase Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Spring ... limps along, but it gets here all the same." With the first thunderstorm of the season this morning, I'm beginning to think winter might actually end this year. Saturday's snow flurries were a big of a downer, but the appearance of the first buds on the trees yesterday more than made up for that. It's not that I don't like winter, but ... enough already!

The U.S. Chess Championships are in full swing; youth is carrying the day so far. Surprise leaders include college students Robert Hess and Sam Shankland (technically speaking, Hess has not yet started at Yale, where he will be a freshman in the fall). Veteran participants--and past champions--Alexander Onischuk and Gata Kamsky are also at the top of the crosstable. The women's field is starting to clarify as well, with Sabina Foisor finally faltering as pre-tournament favorites Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih make up ground.

Unfortunately, my fantasy chess team is shaping up to be a basement-dweller this year. Some players are perennially high scorers, but my "dark-horse" picks have had rotten performances so far. I'm hoping for a second-half turnaround, but I have a sinking feeling that my fantasy chess team is going the way of my NCAA March Madness bracket. It's a good thing I don't gamble.

In other news, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced this week; recipients included Joseph Rago '05 for his editorial contributions to The Wall Street Journal. Congratulations to all the winners!

U.S. Championships underway

2011-04-16T16:25:00.005-04:00

The U.S. Chess Championships began yesterday in St. Louis. There are sixteen players in the men's tournament and eight in the women's; last year's women's champion Irina Krush declined her automatic invitation to the men's tournament and chose instead to defend her title. Unfortunately for her, she was upset in the first round by Sabina Foisor, but there's a lot of chess still to play and anything can happen. On the men's side, most of the first-round games were drawn, with only Grandmasters Ben Finegold and Alexander Shabalov falling, to GM Alexander Onischuk and GM Larry Christiansen, respectively.

Closer to home, the New Hampshire Quick Chess Championship was contested earlier in the month, but I was unfortunately unable to attend. I would have liked to play, but the tournament just didn't fit into my schedule. I did get to play in the Vermont Resort Open in Fairlee, VT last month, and even though I suffered a last-round defeat at the hands of FIDE Master Nelson Castaneda which dropped me out of the prize money, I still had a great time. Hopefully I'll play in another tournament soon!

The NBA playoffs begin today, although I have a feeling my interest will soon wane once the Knicks are annihilated by the Celtics. I know that Sun Tzu would disapprove of my attitude, and I also know that the Knicks have shown flashes of brilliance this season during which they can beat any team, but I fear their inconsistency will match up poorly against the Celtics' experience. Though that experience (read, age) will catch up to them as they, in turn, fall to a surprisingly talented Bulls team. And despite the preponderance of individual stars in the East, I'm predicting another Western Conference NBA champion this year. There, I said it.

In other news, the Internet has been ablaze with the story of Kevin Na, the PGA golfer who required sixteen strokes to finish a par-4 hole on Thursday. You have to admire the man's persistence, though. I usually call it quits on a mini-golf hole after eight shots.

Opening day

2011-04-07T10:16:00.004-04:00

Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year. At long last, baseball is back. And even though it was cold and snowy across the Northeast this year, nothing can diminish my enthusiasm for the return of the national pastime. One week into the season, I'm generally pleased with the way things are going. Other than Monday night's irregularity, the Yankees' bullpen has performed as advertised, and their lineup seems to be largely avoiding the prolonged start-of-season thaw they've endured the past few years. It comes as a pleasant surprise, too, that perennial foes Tampa Bay and Boston have started the season a combined 0-11. 162 games is a long time, and anything is possible, but I'll take what I can get. (I am less pleased by Texas's red-hot start ... they don't seem to be missing a beat despite losing Cliff Lee to free agency.)

I was reading the story of the pilot who made an emergency landing on a beach in Queens earlier this week. Fortunately, no one was injured and it doesn't seem like there was any significant property damage. Still, it was a bizarre episode. One of the many questions running through my mind after reading the account of the pilot's conversation with the air traffic controller: How does enrolling in medical school make you a paramedic?

As best I can tell, the looming government shutdown (with the deluge of media coverage this possibility has received recently, I'm beginning to think it should be all one word) is not going to directly affect ambulance operations in New Hampshire. Medicare will continue making payments, at least for a time, drawn on money set aside previously. Should a prolonged shutdown occur, who knows how that might affect ambulance services? Not I.

In other news, the University of Connecticut and Texas A&M won the NCAA men's and women's basketball championship, respectively, this past week. Congratulations to them both.

Mutiny on the Bounty

2011-03-24T14:27:00.003-04:00

I just finished Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty. What a terrific book. I've yet to see its Best Picture-winning film adaptation (though you can expect a comparison when I do), but I'm certainly looking forward to it. Ellen saw the film long ago and said she enjoyed it. One of the things that struck me most about Mutiny on the Bounty is how gripping the prose was. Not just the story grabbed me but the words themselves did too. I could practically feel the sun beating down on me and the sea spray splashing against my face. I'm not exactly the seafaring type, but I enjoyed opening the book and feeling as though I were.

Evidently there are two sequels that deal with the lives of the other men on the ship. Whereas the latter part of Mutiny on the Bounty deals primarily with the men who stayed behind on Tahiti after the mutiny, the other two books follow the cast-off, non-mutinous crew and the mutineers who stayed with the ship. I'll have to look them up when I get a chance. For now, my next book looks like it will be Robert Bolt's 1960 play A Man for all Seasons, another offering on my Best-Picture-winning-movie-that-was-adapted-from-a-book list. Of the twenty entries on the list, A Man for all Seasons is one of only four plays. The others are Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, You Can't Take it With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

The director of the Harvard University Library, Robert Darnton, wrote an intriguing op-ed in yesterday's New York Times. He remarked on Google's attempt to digitize every book ever written and the recent setback this endeavor was dealt when a judge rejected a settlement between the company and two groups that were suing it over the project. Darnton goes on to propose a digital public library that he feels would be a superior, more accessible clearinghouse than what Google had proposed. With the digitization of books becoming more widespread, it's an idea that will come to fruition sooner or later, in one form or another. The only questions are when, how and how well will it be done. The article is definitely worth a read.

In other news, I heard recently that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has begun his tryout with Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City. I guess everybody passes the time differently during a lockout ...

Shamrock Shuffle

2011-03-20T16:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the tenth annual Shamrock Shuffle, a 5K race put on by the Lebanon, New Hampshire Parks and Rec department as a fundraiser of some sort. Ellen participated for the first time this year, and she turned in a fantastic time, finishing in the top ten in her age group (there were six hundred sixteen runners overall). I was duly impressed, all the more so because she hadn't done any dedicated training for this race. Way to go, Ellen!

The NCAA March Madness tournament is in full swing, and I must admit I've had better years (at least I think so; I don't track my results from year to year). I don't pay a ton of attention to non-Ivy League college basketball--although I have a geographic soft spot in my heart for the Big East, too--but it's fun to fill out a bracket and hope I picked the right upsets. So far so good, although I certainly didn't see the Louisville and Pitt results coming.

Also, today is the first official day of spring. Between this and the advent of daylight savings time last weekend, I'm starting to believe that winter might actually end this year. Throw in sunshine, receding snow banks and a tentative return of the birds and things are starting to look up indeed. Now all we need is Opening Day and we'll be all set.

In other news, tomorrow is World Poetry Day. Enjoy it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:12:00.008-04:00

I'm not wearing a speck of green today. Better fix that before I go outside next. Purple and blue are not a problem right now, but it's not St. Eggplant's Day, so that really doesn't count for much. As far as I can tell, Enfield, New Hampshire does not have a St. Patrick's Day parade on the order of New York City or Chicago (they actually don't seem to have one at all). Neighboring Lebanon is celebrating with a 5K race this weekend, though, and Ellen decided to enter. I'm looking forward to going and rooting her on!

Ellen and I recently discovered Netflix and we're enjoying it so far. It's nice having ready access to such a wide selection of movies. We don't have terribly esoteric tastes, but there have been a number of films Ellen or I enjoyed growing up that we've been wanting to share with each other that we haven't been able to obtain at the local video outlets. Most recently we watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which we both enjoyed. And I was pleased to learn that Butch Cassidy's real name is Robert.

I was reading recently that the discontinued production of sodium thiopental (also called pentothal), the first of three drugs used in the lethal injection "cocktail," has wreaked havoc with some states' lethal injection plans. Texas, for example, has hundreds of inmates on death row but a stockpile of pentothal that expires at the end of the month. Pentobarbital, another drug in the barbiturate family, is widely seen as the successor to pentothal. Ohio and Oklahoma both use it, and Texas has announced its intention to adopt it as well. Defense attorneys are vigilantly monitoring the proceedings to make sure that the rights of their clients are not infringed upon, but I don't expect the replacement of pentothal with pentobarbital to have any functional impact on the way death row inmates' cases play out. If the medical community has deemed pentobarbital safe when patients are intended to survive its use, presumably the legal community will not object to its use in an execution setting.

The 2011 U.S. Chess Championships start April 14 ... which means Fantasy Chess is almost here!

Chess-music

2011-03-06T16:46:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine, Alex Barsamian '04, recently brought to my attention one man's idea for "Chess-Music." Pretty nifty, if you ask me (but not to be confused with Chess-Boxing) . Musical renditions of only a few famous chess games are posted on Mr. Stokes's blog, but his method could be used to transform any chess game, played anywhere by players of any level, into a piece of music. Those of you who appreciate aurally "pleasing" notes may or may not be satisfied with Chess-Music; after all, the notes are dictated by the chess moves, which were not played with this project in mind. But that raises the question: What would happen if you did it in reverse? Took a piece of music and played it out as a chess game, either using Mr. Stokes's system or another? My guess is an illegal position would be reached in short order, but I'd nevertheless love to see what a Beethoven symphony would look like on the chessboard.

I recently picked back up Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. I had started it last December but had to return it to the library before finishing. It's an easy book to get back into, however, and I had no trouble picking up where I left off. And once again I was struck by how poor a sailor I would have made. I don't think I would have lasted a week under Captain Bligh's command.

The Dartmouth featured an articl e recently highlighting the decision by Harvard and Princeton to reinstitute their early admission policies (I hadn't been aware they'd been done away with). Both are opting for a policy known as Early Action Single-Choice, under which applicants can be offered a non-binding admission offer or rejected outright. Schools also have the option of deferring action on a student's application and placing it in the regular admission applications for consideration in the spring. The difference between EA and its counterpart program, Early Decision, is that Early Decision admission offers are binding. If accepted, a student must attend that school (which of course means that only one ED application can be submitted, lest both be received favorably). And while EA is non-binding, schools featuring EA Single-Choice do not permit students to apply early to multiple schools. I don't know for sure what happens if you violate this regulation, but it's probably not good.

Dartmouth has always featured an ED program, and Dean of Admissions Janet Lavin was quoted in the article as saying that there are no plans to change this. Having never gone through the ED process, I don't have any strong opinion about it, but with the college application process as frenetically paced as it is, I can't help but think that compressing everything still further only increases the pressure on high school students. Some schools offer a competitive advantage to students applying early--that is, you are likelier to get in if you apply ED than if you apply regular decision--but not every college does this. I'm just glad the entire college-application process is behind me!

Firsts and lasts

2011-03-06T15:32:00.006-05:00

Ellen and I went to our first Dartmouth men's basketball game of the season yesterday, and not a moment too soon. Before the game, Dartmouth held its annual Senior Night ceremony, honoring the two graduating seniors on the squad for their four years of commitment and accomplishment. At first it looked like Dartmouth was going to send off its seniors in style with an upset win over Penn, as it took a thirteen-point lead into halftime. Unfortunately, Penn came back on the strength of some timely outside shooting and managed a victory that was much closer than the final score would indicate. It was a disappointing way to end the season, but Ellen and I enjoyed getting to go watch the game all the same.

Speaking of college basketball, Harvard's 79-67 defeat of Princeton last night guaranteed the Crimson at least a tie for the Ivy League title. The outcome of the Princeton-Penn game on Tuesday will determine whether Harvard wins the title outright (if Penn wins) or if there will be a one-game playoff between Harvard and Princeton (should Princeton win) to determine the recipient of the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Seeing as Harvard is the only Ivy League team never to win an Ivy League championship, and the men's basketball team is the only one of thirty four Harvard teams never to win a league title, I suppose they were due.

I finished a book, the other day, Yasser Seirawan's Chess Duels, that Ellen had given me for Christmas. It was an excellent read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seirawan, four times the U.S. champion and twice a contender in the World Championship cycle, details at length his interactions with and games against nine World Chess Champions. Chess players are nothing if not a colorful and engaging bunch, and Seirawan has a gift for textured, descriptive prose. What a great present this book was. Embarrassingly, though, this is the first book I have finished in 2011. By comparison, I had already completed nine titles by this point last year. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference, but I'm looking forward to catching up!

The Upper Valley has enjoyed a run of (relatively) warm temperatures of late. So balmy have the temperatures been, in fact, that the recent precipitation has taken the form of rain instead of snow. Quite a pleasant change for a summer-phile such as I, and seeing the mounds of snow shrink before my eyes has been further cause for glee. Sadly, though, winter is forecast to reassert itself this evening, with some reports calling for as much as ten inches of snow and sleet accumulation before tomorrow. I take comfort in the knowledge that winter's days are numbered, however. Spring (and more importantly, baseball) will soon be here.

To be or not to be

2011-03-01T16:16:00.004-05:00

This is a big week in terms of collective bargaining. In addition to the well-publicized proposals to curb collective bargaining in Wisconsin and Ohio, the collective bargaining agreement between the National Football League and the NFL Players' Association is set to expire at midnight on Thursday. I've seen estimates that place the annual revenue for the NFL upwards of $9 billion, which is a staggering sum of money for an entertainment field. I understand that negotiating a new CBA is a complicated issue, but at a certain point both players and owners need to come to their senses and realize that there is more than enough pie to go around.

America's top-ranked chessplayer, Hikaru Nakamura, announced recently that he will not be competing in the upcoming U.S. Championships. This is a dismaying decision for some chess fans, who had hoped to see him go for his third title. According to one recent interview, his decision was fueled by a desire to pursue only the strongest, most exclusive tournaments in order to continue his chess development in anticipation of an eventual run on the World Championship. Whether or not this is a fair assessment of the strength of the U.S. Championships--Nakamura won by a half-point in 2009 but finished in third place last year--I wish him the best in all his chess endeavors (and I wouldn't mind seeing him reconsider).

In other news, the Oscars were held this past Sunday ... and just like last year, no one cared.

Sports shake-ups

2011-02-23T10:16:00.005-05:00

I was pleased to see that the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets on Monday. I was convinced that the maelstrom of trade rumors would fizzle out and the question of Anthony's long-term plans would be resolved in the off-season via free agency. Pleasantly, I was mistaken. In a massive trade--one of the largest in NBA history--Anthony and veteran point guard Chauncey Billups were sent to the Knicks in exchange for Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton, not to mention a large handful of supporting players on all sides.

Initially, I had been concerned about the long-term cost of parting with so many of the Knicks' "core," their young, improving players. But a series of articles on the New York Times sports page pointed out that while supporting players come and go, stars are much harder to replace. Better to acquire a second legitimate star to complement Amar'e Stoudemire and then replenish the role players than to try to win a championship based on the power of Stoudemire and the role players alone. I think he might be on to something there--LeBron James's stint in Cleveland proved that no one superstar can win a championship by himself--and I hope the Knicks achieve everything they'd hoped with this trade.

Staying on the hardwood, the Cal Tech men's basketball team defeated Occidental 46-45 last night. This victory is significant because it snaps Cal Tech's 310-game conference losing streak. According to The New York Times, the last time they defeated a fellow Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe was during the 1984-1985 season ... which means the losing streak is older than any of the current players. Congratulations to Cal Tech, and I hope their baseball team will be the next to find redemption (412 consecutive losses in conference games).

And in baseball, spring training is underway and games start up this weekend. Opening Day is March 31!

Back to work

2011-02-22T16:08:00.004-05:00

I started a new job a couple weeks ago. It has been a lot of fun so far, and I'm really enjoying working on my own as a paramedic. I also have a great schedule, even if I did spend all of Valentine's Day at work. Two twenty-four hour shifts a week is demanding, but having five days off is a definite upshot! Ellen and I are both pleased with the way things have turned out.

Looking at the bigger picture, taking my first solo call as a medic two weeks ago was the culmination of something that began all the way back in August of 2009. What a great testament to God's faithfulness that He saw Ellen and me through the entire paramedic school and National Registry certification process, strengthening and enriching our relationship in the process. (No "paramedic school divorce" for us ... just the opposite, in fact!)

Speaking of Ellen, she and I finally brought our car hunt to a close. We purchased a 2004 Pontiac Vibe last weekend, which was extremely exciting for both of us (and especially for Ellen, since she gets to drive it every day!). But as soon as I (resume and) finish learning how to drive stick, I will enthusiastically take a turn in the driver's seat. It's a very nice car!

Dartmouth's 100th Anniversary Winter Carnival was Valentine's Day weekend; Ellen and I got to spend a fair amount of time enjoying the festivities. The snow sculpture was more respectable than in recent years (which isn't saying much), but considering the amount of snow that fell this winter, the sculpture was a bit lackluster. There was enough snow to support a sculpture twice as big. Presumably the limiting factor is manpower, which is unfortunate. Have Dartmouth students forgotten that a Winter Carnival snow sculpture once held the world record for tallest free-standing snow sculpture? Whither that gung-ho spirit?

Dartmouth undergrads do get credit for showing up in force to the men's ice hockey game against Princeton (which Dartmouth won 4-1). And they get credit for launching an impressive barrage of tennis balls at the Princeton goalie following Dartmouth's first goal, as is the custom. Sadly, things took a turn for the disappointing as the crowd continued to pelt the goalie with tennis balls following each of Dartmouth's subsequent goals, which is not only a delay-of-game penalty but is also altogether not in keeping with the tradition.

In other news, the U.S. Amateur Team East, the largest team chess tournament in the country, concluded yesterday. "West Orange Krush," headlined by International Masters Mikhail Zlotnikov and Irina Krush, took top honors. I have never played in this event, and I had hoped to change that this year, but in the end the timing just wasn't right. Maybe next year!

Joshua Bell

2011-02-09T17:30:00.003-05:00

Ellen and I went to see Joshua Bell perform at the Dartmouth's Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts last week. We had fantastic seats to a fantastic show. Truly remarkable. It was Ellen's first time seeing him perform, but I had actually seen him once before, back in 2005. I was in Vienna on a class trip and a few friends and I used a free evening to watch him perform Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" (which happens to be my favorite piece). Pure bliss.

Moving back to 2011, there was only one part of the entire evening that stuck in my craw: When did standing ovations become de rigueur? Joshua Bell performed three pieces plus two short encores, with an intermission following the second piece and a series of applause breaks following the third. After each one of these, with the exception of the first piece, the audience broke into a standing ovation. Don't get me wrong: It was a terrific show, and in a couple instances the standing ovation was well-deserved. But who gives a standing ovation to a two-minute second-encore? In my view, you cheapen standing ovations by doling them out automatically rather than after an especially noteworthy performance. Perhaps some of my musically inclined readers can shed some light on the matter.

This weekend is Dartmouth's 100th Anniversary Winter Carnival. Between ski races, human dog sled races, the Polar Bear Swim, snow sculpting, an assortment of marquee home sporting matchups (men's hockey versus Princeton!) and a host of other events, there's sure to be something for every Dartmouth student and alumnus. I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Dartmouth Apologia review, Part III

2011-02-03T09:36:00.003-05:00

This is the final installment of my review of the Winter 2011 edition of The Dartmouth Apologia. As always, I encourage you to read the issue for yourself before reading my take on it.

The cover article for this issue, "Quantum Mechanics and Divine Action," was written by Emily DeBaun '12. Quantum mechanics is not an easily accessible topic, but DeBaun does a commendable job of explaining its basic tenets without making the reader feel condescended to. The article abruptly shifts focus in the latter half, temporarily leaving behind the world of physics and looking at the biblical treatment of miracles, aided heavily by Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. I thought the second half of the article was terrific, though there probably could have been a stronger transition joining the two. If anything, I would have preferred the primary focus of the article to have been on miracles in the Bible, with physics playing a secondary role, but as it is, there should be something for everyone in this piece.

"A Proof for the Existence of God," by Editor-in-Chief Peter Blair '12, is an exposition of Thomas Aquinas's "First Way." The First Way, which Aquinas put forth in his Summa Theologica, is a version of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. No doubt due to the denseness of the source material, Blair's article is itself somewhat viscous, but he does an admirable job of capturing the essence of Aquinas's argument and making it accessible even to those who don't have a background in philosophy or Thomistic physics. The article is unnecessarily verbose in places, but if you take time to wade through it, it will be time well spent.

Alexandra Heywood '11 contributed "God in the Gulag," a compact history of Christianity in the Soviet Union (and the article with the snappiest title, in my opinion). As the title suggests, she pays particular attention to the way Christianity survived and even thrived in the infamous Soviet gulags. It's a fascinating article that strikes just the right balance between detail and fluidity. As I've mentioned, my natural bent is more toward the historical and literary than the scientific and philosophical, so this piece, like Nauman's, is right up my alley. Still, even if you lean in the other direction, you will not be disappointed by the substance and rigor of Heywood's research and prose.

The final article in the Winter 2011 issue is "Free Will, Predestination, and the Value of Christian Debate." Written by Anna Lynn Doster '12, the article is much less about free will and predestination themselves than Christian debate, namely that between Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther in the first part of the sixteenth century. Doster does a great job of relating the facts and context surrounding this fascinating exchange without taking one side or the other. I recommend both the article and its bibliography to anyone interested in theology, history or two dynamic and thoughtful minds conducting a (somewhat) civil discussion on one of the biggest issues of the day.

Dartmouth Apologia review, Part II

2011-02-03T09:15:00.003-05:00

Having offered some general thoughts about the Winter 2011 issue of The Dartmouth Apologia, I would like to now look at each in turn. I will omit the interview with Peter Kreeft because it rather resists criticism, given its nature as an interview. And as before, I encourage you all to read the articles for yourselves before engaging with the reviews that follow.

First off, "Euthyphro's Dilemma and the Goodness of God," by Brendan Woods '13. Woods takes on the ancient Greek philosophical problem of what the implications might be when one considers God's role in determining what constitutes "good." The analysis is thorough and the conclusion sound; the only question I had about this article is why it was written in the first place. Woods wrote a post last March for "Tolle Lege," the Apologia's blog, in which he considered the identical topic. This article is merely an expansion of that earlier piece with relatively little to add to the discussion. Whether or not this expansion was ultimately unnecessary, though, it is certainly a well crafted piece.

This issue's guest piece, "Taking the Bible Seriously," is contributed by Luke Timothy Johnson. Professor Johnson teaches at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. (Incidentally, guest pieces are unique among the Apologia's offerings because they are the only articles not routinely edited for content.) Professor Johnson puts forth an interesting examination of contemporary "schools" of Biblical hermeneutics as compared to historical examples of the same, holding up Origen of Alexandria as an example of someone who really "got it" when it came to how to read and engage with the Bible. The writing style is a little on the polemical side for my taste, and Origen struck me as an odd choice for a protagonist (he was anathematized by the Fifth Ecumenical Council for believing in a hierarchical Trinity, among other things), but Professor Johnson's point about the importance of not skimming but deeply engaging with the Bible is nevertheless well taken.

"Science and Orthodoxy" by Grace Nauman '11 bears the subtitle, "The Faith of Galileo and Kepler." This piece takes on author Nancy Frankenberry's assertion that many of the giants of the Scientific Revolution may have been Christians, but they adhered to an, "Eccentric ... unconventional" theology. Through careful research and exposition, Nauman shows that the two titular scientists were not only not unorthodox but supremely mainstream. She includes an illustrative episode from Kepler's life in which he suffered a minor falling out with the Lutheran church over the doctrine of ubiquity. As it turned out, Kepler was right and later Lutheran theologians overturned the erroneous doctrine. Admittedly, my natural bent runs more toward history than philosophy, but all the same, this was one of my favorite articles in the issue, and I would encourage anyone picking up the journal not to miss it.

Dartmouth Apologia review, Part I

2011-02-01T11:30:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, The Dartmouth Apologia published its winter issue on Friday. I've been involved in the production of this issue in the capacity of editorial consultant, but I was handed a copy of the final product for the first time on Sunday. It is beautifully designed and laid-out; from front to back it is nothing short of visually stunning.

As I embark on a review of the content of the journal, I offer two provisos: First, as previously mentioned, I have seen a number of iterations of all of these articles. I will do my best to comment only on what appeared in the final version; please bear with me if I slip. Should I refer to a passage that seems nonexistent, that's probably because it is. Second, and more importantly, I strongly encourage you to read the articles for yourself and form your own opinions first. As of this morning, the new issue had not been placed online, but check back frequently ( www.dartmouthapologia.org is the official website). If you're on campus, pick up a hard copy of the journal. If past years' distribution efforts are any guide, you shouldn't have to look too hard.

I'd like to begin with some broad comments on the issue as a whole before delving into the individual articles. This edition consists of six student articles, one guest article and an interview. The "Final Thoughts" segment that was a mainstay during my undergrad years is again missing (the last issue didn't have it either). I suspect the editorial board has opted to discontinue this feature, which is too bad. I always appreciated its brief, uniquely personal look at an item of faith. Hopefully it will be revived in future years.

The articles are of their usual high quality. Technical writing proficiency combined with intellectually rigorous scholarship and discourse has always been the hallmark of the Apologia, and I'm pleased to see that this tradition is alive and well. The two seniors, three juniors and one sophomore who comprised this edition's writing staff are articulate, thoughtful and lucid writers and thinkers who have clearly poured countless hours of work into this endeavor.

The most notable omission in the Winter 2011 edition is a clear presentation of the Gospel. There is nothing wrong with using logic to show that a supernatural being must exist (as Blair and to a lesser extent Woods and DeBaun do), but this seems to me of little use if you stop short of considering--somewhere in the issue--whether or not Jesus of Nazareth is that God, incarnate and resurrected. There are a lot of religions with a lot of gods out there, and it is vital to take that last step and show that the one true God is in fact the triune God of the Bible. (My good friend and Apologia co-founder Charlie Dunn '10 used to insist on including such a piece in every issue.)

Ice wars

2011-01-31T16:01:00.004-05:00

I have recently been waging war against the ice and snow that have taken over our back deck. (We now know it is important to nip these things in the bud before they dig in their heels.) Two feet of snow is a manageable quantity to shovel ... twenty inches of snow underneath four inches of solid ice is a bit more formidable. After our plastic snow shovel suffered a career-ending injury, Ellen and I decided to stop messing around. Admittedly, I'm using it more as a chisel than as a shovel, but our new steel-tipped behemoth is working wonders. Just in time for the next snowstorm.

The winter edition of The Dartmouth Apologia was released on Friday. I had the privilege to work on this issue as an editorial consultant, and I will be reviewing the articles here over the coming days. Although the new issue is not yet online, I highly recommend their website, www.dartmouthapologia.org . This issue's cover article, by Emily DeBaun '12, examines the relationship between quantum mechanics and "nondeterministic divine action." Food for thought, to say the least.

In the chess world, two-time American champion Hikaru Nakamura was just crowned champion of the 2011 edition of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee. This Dutch perennial featured fourteen top grandmasters, including the four highest-rated players in the world. Some chess fans have declared this the most exciting result by an American since Bobby Fischer won the World Championship in 1972. Congratulations Hikaru!

Nationally registered

2011-01-20T13:01:00.003-05:00

I passed my final practical exam station on Sunday, meaning I am finally a Nationally Registered Paramedic. As I have mentioned previously, both Vermont and New Hampshire require providers to be nationally registered and neither state offers reciprocity to New York certifications. As much of a pain as it has been to go through this process, I am pleased to now have this certification under my belt. Between this and my New York card, I should have little difficulty obtaining a license to practice in whatever state we move to next for Ellen's post-doctoral studies. She and I are both elated and relieved!

I enjoyed watching the Jets-Patriots football game last weekend, and I was especially pleased with the result. As much as has been said about the result--and there has been a lot--I was surprised by one nuance that seems to have been largely overlooked. At the end of the game, with the ball on the New England 16-yard line, Jets running back Shonn Greene took a handoff and scampered into the end zone for what proved to be the decisive score. My question is, why didn't he just stop, a la Brian Westbrook in 2007?

Here's the situation: If Greene gets past the 10-yard line, New York earns a first down. New England has to burn their last time-out to stop the clock, meaning the Jets have first-and-goal with 1:43 or so on the clock. Seeing as it's a forty-second play clock, all the Jets have to do is kneel down three times and the game is over. New England can't stop the clock again and they never get another chance to touch the ball. I'm no NFL coach, but I'd take a guaranteed win over a two-score lead with Tom Brady getting the ball back with 1:41 on the clock any day. In any event, next up are the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm hoping for a great game.

Martin Luther King, Jr. day

2011-01-17T17:45:00.002-05:00

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I am posting a transcript of his most famous speech, the "I Have a Dream" speech given on August 28, 1963 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. I've heard the speech took seventeen minutes to deliver.

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

On college chess

2011-01-13T10:22:00.005-05:00

The Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship wrapped up on December 30, 2010 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As I mentioned previously, the University of Texas--Dallas took clear first place with a 6-0 match score. Alex Betaneli, the chief tournament director and organizer, wrote an excellent recap for the U.S. Chess Federation website in which he not only recounted all the action but offered some thoughts on the current state of college chess in the United States. Betaneli pointed out the well-known and much-lamented disconnect between the enormously popular scholastic chess scene and the stingy ranks of adult, professional chess players; he suggested that shortcomings at the college level contribute greatly to the steep drop-off of chess playing as juniors leave adolescence.

Betaneli's case in point is the Pan-Am tournaments from the 1970s and 1980s. Literally hundreds of schools would show up to play, and many of the young competitors went on to become the face of American chess. By contrast, the 2010 edition of the tournament only saw seventeen different American schools send teams (Canada and the West Indies sent a total of three teams and some U.S. schools also entered more than one team). A number of possible explanations were highlighted by Betaneli and other USCF members on the message board. These included school funding, location/timing of the tournament and the advent of chess scholarships, to name a few.

I have a small amount of experience with college chess, having captained the Dartmouth College team at three Pan-Am tournaments (2006-2008). We won the U1600 prize in 2006 and missed the U2000 prize by half a point in 2007; 2008 was less successful. In any event, having gone from nationally-ranked junior to active college player to as-active-as-I-can-be adult, I have a few thoughts on the matter as well.

First off, I find the location/timing argument less persuasive, especially the location element. The Pan-Ams have been held December 27-30 for as long as I can remember (which admittedly isn't that long), and I have traveled to frigid D.C., balmy Miami and arid Dallas to play. I certainly enjoyed Miami the most as far as location is concerned, but then again, who wouldn't? And I wasn't going there on vacation, I was going to represent my school and play chess. I would have played on the moon if they'd held the event there. Timing is another matter, but you're never going to please everyone. Some schools have finals in December, others in January. Some schools are on break in January, others are back in session. The only common denominator is that everybody will be on break between Christmas and New Year's. So I think the organizers have chosen the optimum timing for the tournament.

As far as school funding is concerned, this is a much more formidable obstacle. Dartmouth was generous enough to pay our hotel and entry fee costs every year, and depending on the year there was also some money for meals, transportation and even USCF membership renewal. All we had to do was ask (Aravind Reddy '09 and Daniel Leung '09 did terrific jobs preparing our funding proposals). I certainly recognize that not every school is as generous as Dartmouth--either by nature or by dint of tough times--and there is no question that participating in Pan-Ams is an expensive proposition. Once all is said and done, you're looking at an outlay of hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, especially depending on where the tournament is located and where your players are coming from. This is not small potatoes, and I have no doubt that it was budgetary constraints and not lack of interested players that kept a number of teams at home.

The question of scholarships is different and more complex. As college chess has turned into more of a "semi-professional" sport, teams comprised strictly of amateurs stand less and less of a chance of doing well at Pan-Ams. I am not against chess scholarships--on the contrary, I think they are a great thing--but I do think they have had the paradoxical effect of temporarily setting back college chess. Temporarily is the key word here. What has happened over the past decade or so is that certain schools, the University of Texas--Dallas and University of Maryland--Baltimore County chief among them, have made their chess team a priority. They have swelled their ranks with top-caliber players, both by offering full scholarships to the winners of prestigious junior tournaments (a brilliant strategy, in my view) and by recruiting adult professionals. There is nothing at all illegal about this--the scholarship players work hard at their studies, be they graduate students or undergrad--but it has served to "de-amateurize" college chess, especially where the recruitment of professional players as grad students is concerned.

The result is that UTD and UMBC dominated college chess for years until other schools decided they wanted in on the action. Texas Tech University and the University of Texas--Brownsville have both begun scholarship programs in recent years, and they too have enjoyed great chess success. While this was going on, schools like Duke, Harvard and Yale, which had traditionally scored well in team competitions because of the talented amateurs on their roster, began to fade into irrelevance.

This brings us more or less to the present day. There are a handful of "second-tier" chess schools, such as New York University and Stanford, that are still competitive, but they never actually win any tournaments because they simply lack the depth of a UTD or a UMBC. As one commenter noted on the discussion forum attached to Betaneli's article, "There are fewer teams competing for the top prize but the road to that prize is getting tougher." Indeed it is, and the perception that victory is unattainable is powerful dissuasion when it comes time to convince your star player to give up his Christmas break or plead with your school's student government for a few extra dollars to make the trip possible. So where to go from here?

I think the institution of the class prize is the key to redeeming college chess, at least as concerns the Pan-Am tournament. Class prizes, which recognize the top-scoring teams in lower rating brackets, give even the most modestly-composed of squads a chance to succeed. Recently there has been one class prize per rating category; I propose future editions of this tournament expand that to two or more prizes per class. This would erase the sense of futility that plagues many middle-of-the-pack teams and reenergize the competition at all levels. Furthermore, this would accelerate the reversal of the "setback" I mentioned earlier, which has manifested itself in this perception of fruitlessness and is only now beginning to fade. So up with class prizes and up with college chess!

Top ten lists

2011-01-10T13:25:00.002-05:00

The New York Times ran an interesting piece on Friday about the top ten composers of all time. Anthony Tommasini, music critic for the Times, discussed the obstacles and pitfalls inherent in compiling such a list. These ranged from the unfairness of unduly imposing one's personal taste by elevating a favorite composer's ranking to the fundamental unsuitability of doing so. "As I see it," he writes, "the critic's job description does not include compiling lists of greats in order of greatness." Nevertheless, he conceded that with the help of an inquisitive high schooler he was persuaded to view the task afresh. As Tommasini describes it, "For me the resulting list would not be the point. But the process of coming up with such a list might be clarifying and instructive, as well as exasperating and fun." Indeed!

Tommasini does not provide his entire list off the bat; he merely reveals his first selection, J.S. Bach. The final list will be presented in order on January 21, according to a pos t on the Artsbeat blog. That same post strongly implied that Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert will all join Bach on the list. There were some restrictions placed on the field of candidates; Tommasini discusses these in the original article. While any kind of limitation goes against the grain of an all-inclusive list, he sensibly reasons that forgoing even the slightest boundary would make for too vast and disparate a field to allow any meaningful, edifying comparison. I'm excited to see whom he chooses and why.

I also wonder if similar obstacles would face someone trying to compile a list of the greatest authors of all time. Setting aside subjectivity--which is unavoidable in any discussion of the "best" anything--there are so many potential evaluating factors from which to choose. Popularity, cultural influence and technical skill are but three of nearly innumerable possibilities. Then one must take into consideration questions of language, time and place. It's a daunting task, to say the least, but it sounds like fun. I may take up the challenge in a future post. If anybody would like to take a stab at it in the meantime, please leave a comment and do so!

The axe falls

2011-01-06T10:44:00.005-05:00

The New York Times reported today that John Peruggia, the EMS chief for New York City's fire department, has been demoted due to his agency's performance during the Christmas weekend blizzard. He will be replaced by Abdo Nahmood, who was previously in charge of overseeing emergency medical dispatch for the department. An unnamed source added that Chief Peruggia has also received scrutiny from the city Conflicts of Interest board, which may have contributed to his reassignment.

If Chief Peruggia has indeed violated conflict of interest regulations, then that's a completely different matter that needs to be dealt with, but I disagree with demoting him because of the disruption in service during the blizzard. As the president of the union pointed out in the article, Chief Peruggia is being punished for things he couldn't control. It seems the city felt it needed a scapegoat, and perhaps the risk of being put on the chopping block like this comes with the territory when you are in a leadership position like Chief Peruggia's. Still, the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

On a more positive note, the following article appeared on NewCastleNow.org, a community-interest news site covering my hometown. In addition to serving as an adjunct to the volunteer ambulance corps's fund-raising drive, it also highlights the numerous members who have used their experience as a jumping-off point for further medical endeavors. I must point out that I never served in the Youth Corps there--I joined as an adult member following high school--but otherwise it's a nicely done piece.

"Move Over Act" takes effect

2011-01-05T16:06:00.004-05:00

New York State's "Move Over Act" took effect on January 1. The law, which was signed last summer by former Gov. David Paterson, requires motorists to slow down any time they encounter an emergency vehicle parked on the side of the road. If it's a highway, drivers will also be required to move over a lane, assuming traffic conditions permit this to be done safely. Failure to comply will be punishable by a fine and two points on your driver license.

The impetus for the law was the deaths of two New York State Troopers, Robert Ambrose and Glenn Searles, who were killed while investigating accident scenes on the highway. While police officers are the primary beneficiaries of the new law, fire and EMS workers also stand to benefit from the law. Roadways are extremely dangerous places to respond for emergencies, and this will hopefully reduce the too-high number of roadside fatalities among public safety workers (more than 160 police officers alone have been killed in the past decade).

Staying on public safety, The Dartmouth ran an article today on the Dartmouth College administration's new alcohol-harm reduction initiatives. The article reported that President Jim Yong-Kim drew a distinction between the personal safety and public safety spheres with respect to student drinking. "The Hanover Police are public safety officers. But this is really not a public safety issue ... I am very concerned at the current situation, that by misunderstanding fundamentally the alcohol problem at Dartmouth as a public safety issue, the arrests and the prosecutions are making personal safety in grave danger."

President Kim's distinction between public safety and personal safety is an interesting one, and I agree with him to an extent. He seems, however, to be equating public safety with situations that only involve individuals and property not associated with the College. This relegates to the realm of "personal safety" legal infractions that do not directly affect the aforementioned "public" entities, and this definition is better suited for the term "victimless crime" than "personal safety issue." Though safety is certainly an issue in many instances of underage drinking, each alcohol-related emergency starts with a crime (often multiple crimes, since underage drinking and providing alcohol to a minor tend to go hand in hand).

President Kim may be correct that "The arrests and the prosecutions are making personal safety in grave danger," although I doubt it. But even if this is so, criticizing the police department for enforcing the law is not going to make things better. Greater personal responsibility and accountability on the part of the student body, on the other hand, is the way to go. Or if that is too much to ask--which I reject as a conclusion--then pursuing legislative reform by way of lowering the drinking age or lessening the (already lenient) penalties for underage drinking might be satisfactory. But what police department could ever agree to stop enforcing the law?

Planning ahead?

2011-01-04T12:16:00.009-05:00

Far, far ahead. I received an email from the Dartmouth College Gift Planning office yesterday asking me to consider including the College in my will. You don't have to be a paramedic to know that life is unpredictable and, sometimes, tragically short, but this seems a little ridiculous. I'm barely eighteen months out of college and they're already after me for a bequest? Come on.

The Pan-American Intercollegiate chess championships wrapped up last week, with the University of Texas--Dallas taking top honors with an undefeated 6-0 match score. Second place was shared between the University of Maryland--Baltimore County and the University of Texas--Brownsville, with UMBC taking second on tiebreak. Dartmouth did not send a team this year; the Ivy League was represented by Yale University, which won the Class B prize. Brown University was also scheduled to participate, but the East Coast blizzard kept them from making it to the playing site in Wisconsin. Congratulations to all the winners!

In other news, we put our new ambulance into service at work today. It rides great, and I'm looking forward to breaking it in. Exciting times around here.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

2011-01-03T12:19:00.005-05:00

Even though Christmas is behind us, I want to share the following item from the Dartmouth College Special Collections Library's blog. It discusses the origins of the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who was created by Robert May '26. Quite a neat story, especially the way in which May received back the copyright from the Montgomery Ward Company. You can read all about it here. Frosty the Snowman, that inveterate subversive, tellingly shares no such noble origin.

The final two days of December saw that annual Upper Valley event, the Ledyard National Bank Men's Hockey Classic. In the past I have been home for winter break during this four-team, two-round tournament, but this year I had the opportunity to attend all four games. In addition to Dartmouth and ECAC foe Colgate, Mercyhurst College and defending national champions Boston College rounded out the field. In the end, Boston College emerged victorious, defeating Mercyhurst 4-1 in the championship game. I had fun, even though Dartmouth finished in third place. And it's not every day you get to see a shootout in college hockey.

Now that January has arrived, I have tallied up my 2010 reading list. In the end I read twenty four books, not counting material for paramedic school. I finished at least one book in every month except April; July was my most prolific reading month, with six books finished, and there were six months in which I only finished a single book. It would seem my pleasure reading comes in spurts! I am already nearly a quarter of the way through Mutiny on the Bounty (which is also on the list of books made into Best Picture-winning movies), and I'm hoping to hit the ground running in 2011.

In other news, I read last week that at the worst point in Christmas weekend's blizzard, New York City dispatchers were holding 1,300 EMS calls (that is, they were backlogged by that number of requests for emergency medical service). It's difficult--and often pointless--to assign blame in such situations, but it's sad nonetheless.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T21:34:00.004-05:00

I hope you all had a peaceful holiday season and are as excited for the new year as I am. I was especially pleased to see the thermometer hit fifty degrees yesterday and today. At this rate, this could be my favorite New Hampshire winter yet. Clearing our porch of the last of the snow and ice from last week's blizzard is a lot easier now that the sun is doing most of the work for me. Something tells me that we'll be back to frigid temperatures before long, but I am resolutely enjoying the warmth while it lasts.

Speaking of last week's blizzard, Ellen and I made a whirlwind tour of New York and New England the two days after Christmas to see friends and family. Needless to say, this coincided with what has been somewhat melodramatically christened "Blizzard 2010." Our trip began with an early morning drive to Putnam County, New York, for brunch with my mother and stepfather. The drive down was uneventful, but snowflakes were beginning to fall by the time we got back in the car for the short trip to Chappaqua, where we had a chance to catch up with my father, brother, stepmother and a good friend from high school.

By now it was snowing purposefully, and Ellen and I still had a three-hour trip to Boston to spend the night with my grandmother. This was the diciest part of the trip, as the highways were becoming increasingly ... white. At least New York and Massachusetts made an effort to plow the roads, but Connecticut didn't even try. Shame on you, Connecticut. It ended up taking us just over five and a half hours to complete the trip, but we did make it safely to Boston and had a nice time with my grandmother (whose Wii Bowling skills are nothing short of legendary. How many people do you know who can bowl a 284?).

Monday saw a brief visit with one of Ellen's old roommates, who was also a bridesmaid in our wedding, and then a largely snow-free drive home. It was fun to get to see so many people--and exciting, if taxing, to make such a long journey in the snow--but we were glad to finally be home.

The year in pictures

2010-12-31T10:36:00.006-05:00

With 2010 nearly in the books, it's safe to say that this has been a banner year. Between graduating first in my class in paramedic school to marrying the woman of my dreams, I will remember 2010 fondly for the rest of my life. Without further ado, the year in pictures.

Niagara Falls (American side), Valentine's Day weekend

Niagara Falls (Canadian side), July

August

Wedding! September

Our first Christmas

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T17:17:00.001-05:00

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'

"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'

"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (Luke 2:1-20)

Christmas Eve eve

2010-12-23T17:03:00.003-05:00

December 23 marks Christmas Eve eve (for those well versed in the Seinfeld universe, Festivus is celebrated today too). This means that Christmas, which is one of my favorite holidays, is almost here. The festivities kick off with a Christmas Eve service put on by our church tomorrow evening; Ellen will again be providing musical accompaniment on the harp. After that is Christmas Day itself, which needs no elaboration, and on Boxing Day and the day after we're planning to make a quick trip to visit friends and relatives in New York and New England. All in all it should be a terrific weekend.

I was pleased to read about the passage of the "New START" treaty this week. As I've written before, nuclear nonproliferation was an issue championed by my uncle Norman (who founded the Dartmouth Conferences on Peace Process and was once summoned to Princeton by Albert Einstein to discuss nuclear disarmament). It's gratifying to see that his work is being carried on. And while politics is an unpredictable business, I'm glad that the ratification of the treaty was not derailed by smaller concerns.

Speaking of Dartmouth, The Waterman Institute is about to launch its second slate of courses next month. In addition to addressing topics like "The Free Society" and "History of Doctrine," Waterman is also debuting its student internship program. Hannah Thomas '12 and Fulbright Scholar Hans-Peter Ritzer are the inaugural interns. It's not looking like Waterman's course schedule and my work schedule will reconcile themselves this time around, but I wish them the best for a successful, God-centered term. I will definitely try to attend one of their offerings as soon as I am able! For more information about Waterman or any of their programs, please visit their official website (linked above).

In other news, Knicks backup forward Shawne Williams was credited with the following quotation following last night's 112-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder: "I feel like when I play hard, lucky things happen. I believe the basketball gods, they reward hustle plays." Sounds an awful lot like Samuel Goldwyn's famous saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." I wonder if Williams is a movie fan? Goldwyn, after all, is the "G" of MGM movie studio fame.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-12-20T14:50:00.001-05:00

In our living room, anyway. Ellen and I cut down, named and decorated our Christmas tree on Saturday, to go along with our holiday window dressings. We found a cut-your-own tree farm a mile or so outside town, whereupon we trudged off into the dense copse of Christmas trees armed only with a hand saw and a hazy idea of the relevant dimensions of our apartment (doorway width, ceiling height, etc.). As it turned out, not only did we find a tree that fit perfectly, but a package arrived this morning from Ellen's mother containing a handful of ornaments. Talk about good timing!

We had a taste of the dark side of New Hampshire winters yesterday--literally--as there was a power outage in Enfield and some neighboring towns. No word on what caused the outage, but at least power was restored relatively quickly. Between flashlights, headlamps and candles, we were able to carry about our business with minimal disruption. Unfortunately, while our apartment is heated by propane, the heater itself runs on electricity. By the time the power was restored some two and a half hours later, the temperature inside had dropped six degrees. Dinner by candlelight was a definite silver lining to the whole episode, though.

Updating a previous item, I'm told that Lebanon, N.H. has restructured its budget so that the second fire station can remain open year-round. I haven't been able to confirm this information, but if it's accurate, I'll be pleased. Fire and EMS coverage are not things you want to opt not to pay for (or accept severe delays in delivery of service, as would likely have been the case here). Just ask Glenn Ordick.

In other news, tomorrow marks the winter solstice, which marks the official end of autumn and start of winter. That, in turn, means summer is only two seasons away. It's about time.

San Francisco wrap-up

2010-12-15T12:30:00.003-05:00

The final two days of our San Francisco trip were an enjoyable mix of business and pleasure. Business came in the form of the start of Ellen's conference (she's actually still in San Francisco, since the conference runs through the week), which I got to witness from the lobby of the hosting convention center. I was even issued a guest badge, although this didn't entitle me to attend any of the events. Not that I didn't think about it, but seeing as they posted burly security guards at the entrance to discourage this very thing, I decided to exercise the greater part of valor.

Simply sitting in the lobby and listening to the conversations swirling around me was quite an education. Who knew there were competing schools of geomorphological analysis? Evidently there are. With some difficulty, I managed to quell the urge to interject myself into conversations about which I knew less than nothing. "You integrated the MRC variable? Why on earth did you do that? Everybody knows that M ... R ... Q is the only variable worth integrating."

It was fun to see Ellen in her professional element, too. She seemed completely at home, and I was quite impressed at how naturally she navigated her way through the waters of cutting-edge physics. Impressed, but not surprised. And after she was finished for the day, she transitioned from scientist to tourist without missing a beat. We walked up and down the Embarcadero in the afternoon and visited Union Square after nightfall, both of which were a lot of fun. I've never seen palm trees with Christmas lights before, though.

Now I'm back in New Hampshire. As stupendous a trip as it was, it's nice to be home.

San Francisco, Part II

2010-12-13T11:53:00.004-05:00

Day two of our San Francisco expedition saw us exploring Fisherman's Wharf and the surrounding areas. Ghirardelli Square, home to the first Ghirardelli Chocolate store (technically the third, but the first two--both in San Francisco--were destroyed by fire and earthquake, respectively). They also had a section devoted to the production of chocolate, which was fascinating to see. Ellen especially enjoyed that part. There was also an ice cream shop attached to the chocolate store/factory, which was expectedly scrumptious.

The centerpiece of our sightseeing was a tour of Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz has served a variety of purposes over the years--fort and prison are but two--and the National Park Service guides did an excellent job of outlining the island's history. It is a cold, forbidding place, and I can't imagine what it would have been like to live or work there for any extended period of time (guards and their families were quartered on the island, partly to ease the logistical burden of covering three eight-hour shifts each day on an island but primarily so that reinforcements would be readily at hand should they ever be required).

Having seen the 1996 Hollywood action film The Rock at least a dozen times, I was excited to see how the real place compared to the movie set. Parts of the movie were filmed on the island, which remained open to visitors during production, but certain liberties were taken to accommodate the needs of the story. The shower room, for example, looks nothing like its Hollywood depiction (for starters, there is no second level).

While it may not have had the glamor of a big-budget Hollywood production, Alcatraz was not without its own "action sequences." You can still see the pockmarks on the floor from where Marines dropped grenades on holed-up prisoners during the three-day "Battle of Alcatraz" in 1946, or the cells that held the only three men to ever escape from Alcatraz without being recovered (they are officially presumed drowned in San Francisco Bay, but no bodies have ever been recovered).

When we returned to the mainland, Ellen took me to Pier 39, where we were able to see California sea lions sunning themselves on the dock. I've seen sea lions before, but only in aquariums, so it was exciting to see them up close in the wild. I'm told that in the warmer months--I use the term relatively, as yesterday's high was in the mid-60s--the sea lions and seals are omnipresent around the pier, not to mention quite loud.

San Francisco, Part I

2010-12-13T11:18:00.003-05:00

Ellen and I embarked on a cross-country trip to San Francisco on Friday, combining sight-seeing and in-law visiting with Ellen's attendance and poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting. The trip got off to a less than auspicious start when one of our traveling party (hint: It wasn't Ellen) missed the bus to Boston. We overcame this temporary setback by continuing on to Logan Airport by car, and we made the flight with plenty of time to spare.

It was not quite all smooth sailing from there, though. Upon our arrival in San Francisco, we discovered that Ellen's luggage never left Minneapolis. We filed a claim with the Delta lost-luggage agent (is it a bad sign that Delta employs full-time staff for this purpose?) and continued on to our hotel, which is the only place I've ever stayed where the hotel office closes overnight. And fortunately the luggage was waiting for us when we woke up the next day.

In another first, our electronic keys stopped working mid-stay. We would insert them into the lock but nothing would happen. The front desk issued us two new keys, but these didn't work either. Finally the hotel troubleshooter determined that the electronic lock itself had run out of batteries. After replacing the necessary parts, everything was as good as new. It makes sense that they would be battery-powered, but I admit I never thought about how those locks worked. I just took for granted that they would. It's a good thing we made this discovery during the afternoon and not after the front desk closed!

Saturday morning was spent sightseeing along the marina; we visited Crissy Field, Fort Mason and the Exploratorium and laid eyes on Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate Bridge and two yacht clubs. In the afternoon we met up with Ellen's father and stepmother--both of whom grew up in the Bay Area--and took a driving tour of the city, including a trip down Lombard Street, which makes the highly credible claim that it's the most crooked street in the world. We also walked out halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge, whose shroud of fog lifted just in time for us to enjoy a marvelous view of the bay. The evening was capped off sourdough bread and seafood for dinner. Mmmmmm.

In the next installment, our trip to Alcatraz, wild sea lions and a San Francisco chocolate factory.

And the answer to last week's brainteaser: The wise man told the brothers to switch camels.

Thirty years later

2010-12-08T23:36:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman (I wonder what differentiates a murder from an assassination? The profile and/or celebrity of the victim?). One of the most celebrated, revered and controversial figures in entertainment, Lennon's impact and influence continues to reverberate through the music world and society at large. Either a passionate crusader or a modern-day Quixote, depending on your point of view, Lennon never promoted a cause halfheartedly. But his most enduring legacy is undoubtedly his music. Surely he will be remembered for his political activism as well, but Lennon was neither the first nor the last to campaign for world peace. Yet there will forever be only four Beatles, and there will never be another John Lennon.

The United States enjoyed a good day at the chessboard on Wednesday, with International Master Anna Zatonskih advancing to the round of sixteen at the Women's World Chess Championship. She will face number-one seeded Humpy Koneru of India. Over in England, top-ranked American chessplayer Hikaru Nakamura drew his first-round game of the London Chess Classic against reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand, also of India. Tomorrow is a day off for Zatonskih while Nakamura again takes the Black pieces, this time against former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik.

In other news, I came across the following brainteaser on Brainden.com the other day but couldn't manage to figure it out. Think you know the answer? Leave a comment. Cheating is strongly discouraged.

"A desert king tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower wins. After wandering aimlessly for days, the brothers ask a wise man for guidance. Upon receiving the advice, they jump on the camels and race to the city as fast as they can. What did the wise man say to them?"

Pearl Harbor

2010-12-07T11:54:00.006-05:00

Today is the sixty-ninth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: "A date which will live in infamy," according to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio address the following day. I had the opportunity to go to Pearl Harbor in the summer of 2000; it was a moving experience. The wreckage of the USS Arizona, a battleship whose sinking claimed the lives of 1,177 sailors, was especially poignant to see. I'd like to go back and visit again someday; if my travels ever return me to Hawaii, I will make a point of doing so.

Closer to home, my thoughts and prayers go out to the two Calex Ambulance employees who were injured when their ambulance went off a bridge in Bradford, Vermont. They were returning from a call when the driver hit a patch of ice and lost control of the vehicle. Both men are in stable condition and no bystanders were injured. Talk about a close call.

Moving on to a more upbeat topic, the Women's World Chess Championship is currently underway in Hatay, Turkey. The United States is represented by two players, International Master Anna Zatonskih and Women's Grandmaster Camilla Baginskaite, although WGM Baginskaite was eliminated in the first round. IM Zatonskih is on a roll, however, breezing through her first round match and defeating GM Marie Sebag of France in the first game of their second-round match today. Keep up the good work!

In other news, James Franco and Anne Hathaway have been selected to host this year's Academy Awards. Who cares?

Snow!

2010-12-06T13:03:00.003-05:00

While I'm quick to single out winter as my least favorite season, I readily admit that December has a lot going for it (namely Christmas and often the first serious snowfall). And so I feel no shame reporting the glee I felt when I woke up to a steady snowfall this morning. Seeing as we're a week into December and snow is falling, I consider the Christmas season officially underway. Ellen and I have some Christmas tree and light shopping to do in the next couple weeks, which will be a lot of fun to do together.

I have opened December in New Hampshire for five of the past six years now, but this is the first time that the month was not ushered in by college finals. Definitely a change for the better. I am nevertheless reminded of one of my favorite seasonal videos, which sustained (distracted) me through many a late night preparing for final exams.

In other news, I read this morning about a proposed Noah's Ark-themed amusement park in Kentucky. No word yet on whether development will proceed ahead of possible constitutional challenges, nor on whether there will be any roller-coasters at the park.

On the chopping block

2010-12-04T15:40:00.002-05:00

The Lebanon, New Hampshire City Council appears to be moving ahead with a budget that will leave one of two city fire stations unmanned for approximately one hundred days per year. As is the case in many New Hampshire cities, the Lebanon Fire Department provides both fire and EMS services to residents and visitors. As reported in The Valley News on Wednesday, Fire Chief Chris Christopolous made his case against the proposed budget at a City Council meeting last week, but only one council member supported sparing the fire department of cuts altogether.

To be fair, LFD stands to receive approximately a two percent raise over last year's budget. The chief contends, however, that this money will go almost exclusively to salaries, benefits and retirement, leaving the department little to cover the rise in training, maintenance and other costs. For the City Council's part, they are reluctant to raise taxes on what they perceive as an overburdened population already. This objection comes not only in and of itself, but also because they fear raising taxes to support the fire department will force them to similarly support other public service institutions like the police department and library.

I do not work for LFD and I don't live in their district, so I don't have a direct stake in the outcome of the budget question. All the same, it is disheartening to see a population that is unwilling to support such an essential component of the public's safety and peace of mind. That said, I'm a big believer in "You get what you pay for." If the citizens are willing to abide the possibility of response times more than doubling (to some residential areas) or even increasing sixfold in some cases (such as to the elementary school), then so be it. I hope I'm wrong, but I think they're making a big mistake.

Puzzling words

2010-12-04T15:13:00.001-05:00

Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim and Acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears gave a press conference on Tuesday prior to a presentation about new alcohol and sexual assault reduction initiatives the administration is planning to implement. At this press conference, as reported in The Dartmouth, President Kim had critical words for the way the local police handle cases involving intoxicated students. "I think the current approach of the Hanover Police Department is putting our students in danger every single night," he is quoted as saying.

Huh? The police department is not forcing underage students to drink illegally. It's certainly not providing alcohol to minors. What it is doing is enforcing New Hampshire state law. I honestly don't see how that imperils undergrads. Some students loudly insist that they will refrain from calling for help for a classmate in need out of fear of the legal repercussions for the incapacitated student. If you don't call for medical assistance for a classmate whose life may be in danger to avoid a citation for underage drinking--a violation that in New Hampshire carries no more venom than a speeding ticket--then you are an idiot.

The responsibility for choosing to break the law--and for facing the consequences of that choice, should there be any--rests solely on the shoulders of the students who make those choices. When it comes to illegal consumption of alcohol, the only thing putting Dartmouth students in danger is those selfsame Dartmouth students. I was surprised and disappointed to see President Kim add his voice to the chorus of those who would shirk this responsibility.

Erratum: In my most recent post I gave the Dartmouth football team's 2010 Ivy League record as 4-3. This was, unfortunately, wishful thinking on my part. Their Ivy record was actually 3-4.

A rough weekend at the movies

2010-11-30T16:12:00.003-05:00

Hollywood lost two icons this past weekend. Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen passed away on Sunday from complications of pneumonia while director Irvin Kershner died on Saturday from complications of cancer. Nielsen, who spent much of his career as a dramatic actor, will be best remembered for his comedic roles in movies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Kershner, on the other hand, may be best known as the director of The Empire Strikes Back, the second installment in the Star Wars series. He also directed Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again.

The I-can't-believe-they-got-a-grant-to-study-this files are open yet again, this time coughing up a study by former Cornell University psychology professor Daryl Bern. According to an article in The Cornell Sun, Professor Bern has recently concluded a study that shows viewing erotic images may increase the ability of Cornell students to predict the future. Somehow I don't think I need erotic images to help me predict the psychology community's response.

Elsewhere in the Ivy League, the Dartmouth men's football team concluded the 2010 season with a resounding 31-0 win over basement-dwelling Princeton. This gives the Big Green a 6-4 overall record (4-3 Ivy). A solid performance after years of mediocrity, or worse. The future is looking up! And speaking of Dartmouth, my favorite Dartmouth alumna to whom I'm not married (that is, historian, National Book Award winner and MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient Annette Gordon-Reed '81) was recently named a Trustee of the College.

In other news, the New England Nor'Easters downed the Miami Sharks in the finals of the U.S. Chess League on November 20. Not a bad first season for the expansion Nor'Easters. Congratulations!

On abdominal pain

2010-11-23T10:56:00.003-05:00

For EMS personnel, abdominal pain calls are notoriously difficult. As an emergency physician in Buffalo once said, "The problem with abdominal pain is it can be so many different things." In a nutshell, this sums up the dilemma faced by EMS. Without the advanced diagnostic tools and imaging technology available in the hospital setting, it is extremely challenging to arrive at an accurate field impression/differential diagnosis. There are definitely clues that can point you in one direction or another, and a skilled provider performing a detailed assessment can make headway, but sometimes you just don't have the resources to pin it down.

This vagueness plays out in the treatment options available to providers. The only mention of abdominal pain in the 2009 edition of New Hampshire's patient care protocols is to instruct paramedics to withhold Nitronox, a 50% nitrous oxide-oxygen gas mixture used for pain relief, from any patient with this complaint. This is not to be cruel; if the patient turns out to have a bowel obstruction, the gas can get trapped in the folds of the obstructed bowel and potentially cause a rupture. In many cases, all you can do is assess the patient to the best of your ability, provide supportive care and rapidly transport him to the closest appropriate facility (other options for pain control exist as well).

The Health section of yesterday's New York Times had a fascinating article about abdominal pain in pediatric patients. The author, physician Perri Klass, related how as a resident she and her colleagues used to "smirk" at cases of functional abdominal pain. Functional abdominal pain, which is a term previously unfamiliar to me, is evidently a diagnosis arrived at when nothing else seems to fit. Children with persistent stomachaches that cannot be explained by the presence of any disorder are often said to have this condition.

The article discussed how functional abdominal pain had previously been a throw-away diagnosis, or as Dr. Klass puts it, "A code for a troublesome patient, dubious symptoms or an anxious family." Now, though, clinicians are recognizing it as a legitimate complaint that requires serious attention and treatment.

As difficult as abdominal pain calls can be, it's nice to know that sometimes the doctors get stumped too.

Testing

2010-11-23T10:07:00.004-05:00

I took my National Registry practical exam on Sunday in Concord, NH. The exam, which was held in a dormitory at the New Hampshire Fire Academy, consisted of eleven stations ranging from intravenous and intraosseous access and drug therapy to patient assessment, advanced airway management and cardiology. There were also two rounds of oral boards. For such a large-scale production--eighty people showed up to either retest individual stations or take the entire thing--the logistics ran like clockwork. It took me just over four hours from start to finish, and there was a minimum of downtime between stations.

The National Registry exam was different from the New York State paramedic practical exam in subtle but significant ways. Most obvious was the number and nature of the stations; both exams featured static and dynamic cardiology, IV access and bolus medications, adult airway management, patient assessment and one randomly selected "basic life support" skill. But where New York also tested IV med administration via drip and a second random BLS skill, the National Registry instead tested dual-lumen airway placement, pediatric airway management, pediatric intraosseous access and the oral boards.

More subtle were the differences when the stations overlapped between the two exams. A number of these were evident from examining the skills sheets on the National Registry website, but I also attended a "prep class" taught by an area instructor. She has been an evaluator for the National Registry for nearly twenty three years, and she has their permission to run this class the night before the exam outlining common pitfalls in the various stations. No actual exam scenarios are discussed, but she covers many of the ways in which this exam may vary from individual states' tests. It was more than worth the time and money!

Unfortunately, according to the test administrator's unofficial results, I did not pass my static cardiology station. I will have to retest that station another time (hopefully next month). It's a little disappointing, to say the least, but I'm glad to have most of the exam behind me. And since I have already passed the National Registry written exam, this is the last remaining hurdle to transferring my certification from New York to New Hampshire and Vermont.

Sunday was also our church's annual Thanksgiving Dinner, held in the town's community center. It was a great time of feasting, fellowship and, of course, thanksgiving. A lot of people spent a lot of time and energy making it the tremendous success that it was, and I know their efforts are deeply appreciated by all. (And to whoever brought the stuffing ... two enthusiastic thumbs up!)

In memoriam

2010-11-19T13:25:00.003-05:00

Jeffrey A. Klein of Chappaqua, New York, my longtime friend, classmate and teammate, passed away last week at the age of twenty three. Jeff and I met in first grade when his father coached our tee-ball team, and we remained friends through high school, playing together on the basketball team for three years. Jeff was one of the most cheerful people I've ever known, and on and off the court he was the guy you could always depend on to pick you up when you were down. We're all going to miss you, man.

World Champion(s)

2010-11-07T22:20:00.006-05:00

While much of the country was focused on Red vs. Blue during last week's midterm congressional election, a select group of Americans donned the Red, White and Blue and brought home gold (or silver) at the World Youth Chess Championships and World Senior Chess Championships. Steven Zierk of California won clear first place in the Under 18 section, earning him the World U18 Champion title, the International Master title and a Grandmaster norm (three norms and a minimum rating of 2500 are required to achieve the title). In the U12 section, Kayden Troff of Utah took home the silver medal, as did Jeffrey Xiong of Texas in the U10 section.

Meanwhile, over in Greece, Grandmaster Larry Kaufman of Maryland tied for first place in the World Senior Championship. He took fourth place on tiebreaks, which meant he did not receive a medal, but it is nevertheless an impressive performance from the man who achieved the Grandmaster title by winning the World Senior back in 2008! Hearty congratulations to Zierk, Troff, Xiong, Kaufman and all the players who represented the United States with class and aplomb.

On the gridiron, the Dartmouth football team (5-3, 2-3 Ivy) put up a solid second-half showing to down the Cornell Big Red 28-10 on Saturday. With Brown (4-4, 3-2 Ivy) next week and Princeton (1-7, 0-5 Ivy) the week after, Dartmouth is in great position to make a strong finish to the season and secure a winning Ivy record. Go Big Green!

In other news, I went in for my seasonal flu shot today. The nurse asked me which arm I preferred for the injection, and I said my left, since it's my non-dominant arm. Then she saw my shirt, which prominently featured the New York Yankees' logo, and deadpanned, "Oh, you're a Yankees fan? Let me see your right arm ..."

A case of bad taste

2010-11-04T12:24:00.005-04:00

According to a report published on cnn.com, an alternate juror in the Connecticut murder trial of Steven Hayes sent a note to the court marshal at the end of the court session last Friday that, "Asked him to meet her Sunday at a restaurant." The trial is now in the sentencing phase, with the jurors considering whether or not to sentence Mr. Hayes to death for the murder of Hayley Petit, her sister and her mother. (Hayley was admitted to Dartmouth early-decision and would have been a member of the Class of 2011.)

Judge Jon Blue denied a motion by Mr. Hayes's attorneys to dismiss the juror, though he did chastise her, calling her date request a, "G------ dumb thing to do." I couldn't agree more, Judge. Regardless of whether or not it is appropriate for an alternate juror to date a court marshal during a trial, this woman's choice of timing and venue is abysmal. I would stop short of saying that this lapse in judgment automatically disqualifies her to serve in the trial if called upon, but one wonders about her suitability to weigh a matter of life and death if this is how seriously she is taking her current role.

Everybody makes mistakes, and no one exercises perfect judgment all the time. But how could you possibly think that the sentencing phase of a murder trial, with capital punishment on the table, was an appropriate time to ask out a court official? Or that enlisting another juror to pass a note to said official was the best way to go about it? At least she didn't put the date request on Twitter.

Also, the article did not mention whether or not the marshal showed up at the restaurant. I suspect he did not.

The Einstellung effect

2010-11-04T10:54:00.004-04:00

I was overjoyed by the arrival in our mailbox of the November issue of Chess Life, the U.S. Chess Federation's monthly publication. I look forward each month to reading its chess news and tournament coverage, columnists and selections of games and problems. This month, I was particularly intrigued by Grandmaster Andy Soltis's column about the "Einstellung Effect." (The full text of the article is available at www.uschess.org, but I believe you have to be a USCF member to access it.)

Grandmaster Soltis normally writes about topics of interest in the chess world, but these are often related to positions that have occurred in various tournaments or other venues. This month, his topic is, "Why do the best players play second-best moves?" To summarize his two-page column, researchers have conducted studies in which chessplayers of varying strengths were shown two similar positions and asked to find the quickest win. The first position had a well-known checkmate-in-five combination while the second position, which had identically placed pieces save one, did not (due to the one relocated piece now covering the checkmate square).

The researchers found that strong players tended to immediately identify the mate-in-five but took a while longer to find a quicker but less well-known route to victory. Hence, the Einstellung effect, which according to Soltis, "Occurs when you try to solve a problem and are lured into a familiar but second-best approach." One study also found that there was no significant difference in the amount of time it took Class A players (shown only the second position) and International Masters (shown only the first position) to find the fastest win, which was the same combination in both cases. This is because the IMs were distracted by the more familiar yet longer combination. Soltis concludes, "They did no better than the A players when facing more or less the same position. The IMs' superior strength had been wiped out by the Einstellung effect."

This is a fascinating finding for anyone interested in psychology; the Einstellung effect is not confined to chess praxis but can be applied to mathematics and any number of other disciplines. I must question, however, GM Soltis's presentation of the entire question. It is true that the Einstellung effect may inhibit strong players from finding the fastest win, but what about finding a win the fastest? If I can find a mate-in-five instantly but have to spend a couple minutes finding a mate-in-three, is that really an efficient use of my time and energy? I doubt it.

All the same, kudos to GM Soltis and researchers Merim Bilalic, Peter McLeod and Fernand Gobet for giving me something to ponder on this rainy Thursday!

All Saints' Day

2010-11-01T11:46:00.005-04:00

Martin Luther's "95 Theses" may be the most famous document ever posted on Halloween (in 1517), but the best headline I've seen in 2010 belongs to Saturday's edition of The New York Times. "World Series? Who Cares. Chess League Playoffs Are On," declared the legend atop Dylan Loeb McClain's weekly (chess) column. I enthusiastically echo and endorse this sentiment. And forget Monday Night Football: Tonight, my attention will be glued to the New England Nor'easters - New York Knights playoff match.

Yesterday was Halloween here in the Northeast (and everywhere else, I gather). Listening to the morning radio shows during the week, I learned that there were designated times for trick-or-treating. These times, which varied from one town to the next, ranged from late afternoon to early evening. It makes perfect sense to highlight certain hours of the day as "trick or treater friendly," for the purposes of controlling traffic, but I wonder what would happen to those nabbed asking for candy past approved hours?

The Dartmouth Homecoming was a mixed bag as far as sporting events go. There was one of the most impressive student and alumni turnouts I've ever seen for a Dartmouth football game ... if only the team had shown up too. The final score of Harvard 30, Dartmouth 14 reflected the occasionally stellar but mostly lackluster play by the Big Green. On the plus side, the men's and women's soccer teams downed their Harvard counterparts by scores of 2-1 and 3-2, respectively. The field hockey team also emerged on the winning end of a 1-0 decision against the Crimson.

Election Day is tomorrow. Make sure to vote!

A prayer for Dartmouth College

2010-10-29T22:33:00.003-04:00

In honor of Dartmouth's Homecoming, I share Rev. Dr. Lucias Waterman's (1851-1923) prayer for Dartmouth College.

"O Lord God Almighty, well-spring of wisdom, master of power, guide of all growth, giver of all gain. We make our prayer to thee, this day, for Dartmouth College. Earnestly entreating thy favour for its people. For its work, and for all its life. Let thy hand be upon its officers of administration to make them strong and wise, and let thy word make known to them the hiding-place of power. Give to its teachers the gift of teaching, and make them to be men right-minded and high-hearted. Give to its students the spirit of vision, and fill them with a just ambition to be strong and well-furnished, and to have understanding of the times in which they live. Save the men of Dartmouth from the allurements of self-indulgence, from the assaults of evil foes, from pride of success, from false ambitions, from hardness, from shallowness, from laziness, from heedlessness, from carelessness of opportunity, and from ingratitude for sacrifices out of which their opportunity has grown. Make, we beseech thee, this society of scholars to be a fountain of true knowledge, a temple of sacred service, a fortress for the defense of things just and right, and fill the Dartmouth spirit with thy spirit, to make it a name and a praise that shall not fail, but stand before thee forever. We ask in the name in which alone is salvation, even through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen."

'Tis the season

2010-10-28T10:33:00.004-04:00

Maybe I just paid closer attention when I was a child, but Halloween doesn't seem to be receiving much attention this year. Stores have forsaken Halloween accoutrement in favor of early Christmas displays. The onslaught of Christmas carols on the radio has not yet begun, but it's coming. I have nothing against Christmas carols (quite the opposite, in fact), but mid-November is just too soon to start playing them 24/7. Anything that causes Christmas carol burnout long before Christmas Day needs to be rethought.

Speaking of new seasons, the NBA season began Tuesday night with the much-anticipated debut of LeBron James and Chris Bosh, the Miami Heat's prize free-agent acquisitions. Alongside Dwayne Wade, the three stars have been the focus of a hurricane of media attention. Their performance Tuesday, an 88-80 loss to the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics, showed that there is still some room for growth. And my Knicks defeated the Toronto Raptors 98-93 last night, giving them a winning record for the first time since November 22, 2008. Progress!

The U.S. Chess League postseason begins on Monday with the Eastern Division playoffs. New England will take on New York while Boston squares off against Baltimore, with the first-named team having draw odds in both cases. The action will continue on Wednesday when Arizona and Chicago are paired with Seattle and Miami, respectively. (Why is Miami in the Western Division? I do not know.)

In other news, Dartmouth's Homecoming is this weekend. Let me know if you're going to be in the area!

New York on the brink

2010-10-20T11:13:00.004-04:00

With thirteen days remaining until Election Day, two New York races are coming down to the wire ... the American League Championship Series and the stretch run of the U.S. Chess League. (This is not to say that the current political campaigns are unimportant, merely that they will be resolved later in time than the above contests.) The Yankees find themselves in a 3-1 hole against the Texas Rangers while the New York Knights have lost three of their last four matches, dropping them into a tie for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Division. With their backs against the wall, here's hoping they step it up!

Speaking of stepping it up, Dartmouth football defeated Holy Cross 27-19 on Saturday to move to 3-2 on the season (0-2 Ivy League). Their two losses, to Penn and Yale, were both by the slimmest of margins, including a 35-28 overtime defeat at Penn. Not a bad start to a rebuilding year (the memory of 2008's 0-10 campaign is still a fresh memory). This weekend sees the Big Green travel to Columbia to seek their first Ivy win of 2010 against the Lions (3-2, 1-1 Ivy).

The chess Olympiad may have concluded, but the World Youth Championship has just gotten underway in Halkidiki, Greece. The United States sent a forty-player delegation and is represented in every age group on both the boys' and girls' side, save boys U16. Good luck to all the participants! And staying in the sporting world, The New York Times recently reported on a new trend in international sport: women's sumo. Who knew?

The dangers of entitlement

2010-10-15T15:11:00.004-04:00

Last Wednesday, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was charged with one count of providing alcohol to a minor. Under New Hampshire law, this is a felony charge and carries with it a maximum fine of $100,000 if the fraternity (a corporation in the eyes of the state) is convicted. This prompted a predictable yet disappointing outcry from the student body.

Some background: Dartmouth has something known as the "Good Samaritan" policy, whereby individuals or organizations can contact the Department of Safety and Security for help when a student is dangerously intoxicated. Both the calling party and the student on whose behalf the call is placed will not face College discipline for violations of the College's alcohol policy. The purpose of the program is to encourage students to seek help for those who need it without being hindered by fear of administrative reprisal, especially if those calling are not entirely sober (or of age) themselves. One thing the policy does NOT promise to do is inure students from the legal consequences of violating New Hampshire state liquor laws (how could it?).

Two weeks ago, a Good Sam call was placed to SAE fraternity for an intoxicated nineteen-year old female, according to a report by The Dartmouth. Responding personnel determined that ambulance transport was necessary, and per Town of Hanover policy, police officers were dispatched to the scene along with the ambulance. The article states that a subsequent investigation revealed that she had been playing beer pong at SAE (with SAE brothers) prior to her incapacitation. Hence, the filing of charges.

The student body was up in arms as soon as the news of the charges broke. In a series of impassioned and increasingly irrational editorials, various members of the Dartmouth community voiced their outrage at the Hanover Police Department's actions. The perceived violation of the sanctity of the Good Sam call was especially vilified. One consistent refrain went something along the lines of, "If this is what happens when we call for help, then we're going to stop calling for help."

The above position, idiotic as it may be, reveals a startling truth about the dangers of entitlement thinking and its accompanying lack of personal accountability. There seems to be a widespread sentiment that the act of calling for help should absolve those complicit from their involvement in the situation. I cannot think of any rational basis for holding that view. One editorial, entitled "D is for Drinking," offered this explanation: "The 'D' in Dartmouth stands for drinking, and that's something that will never leave our campus culture. But it's becoming more and more crucial that we become smarter drinkers ... for the sake of protecting other students' right to drink."

Right to drink? The legal drinking age in New Hampshire is twenty one, and it's illegal to consume alcohol underage or to provide alcohol to individuals who are underage. Where else do you hear vociferous defense of the right of criminals to break the law without penalty? I reject the assumption that Dartmouth students are entitled to drink illegally simply because they're at college. There is no such thing as a "right to drink" and those who choose to ignore that reality must be aware that unpleasant consequences may attend that choice.

National Chess Day

2010-10-04T13:22:00.006-04:00

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution last Wednesday that established October 9 as National Chess Day. As a concept, National Chess Day has been around since the time of President Ford, but it evidently had never been an "official" occasion until now. There are a number of events being organized around the country to commemorate the day, though I'm not aware of anything like that currently scheduled in New Hampshire.

On the literary front, I'm embarking on a 735-page journey through, "The life and times of Benjamin Franklin," as laid out in H.W. Brands's The First American. Though history is an interest of mine, I've never been a big one for biographies. All the same, I'm enjoying this volume so far. Through the prologue and into the first chapter, Brands is showing himself a lucid and engaging writer. I especially appreciate that he does not skimp on detail for the sake of readability but instead skillfully weaves the two together. I have high hopes for the remaining 722 or so pages.

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Dr. Robert G. Edwards of England, who along with Dr. Patrick Steptoe developed the procedure of in vitro fertilization. It is estimated that more than four million people have been conceived using this method, which debuted with the birth of the first "test tube baby," Louise Brown, on July 25, 1978.

Any mention of the Nobel Prize, in any discipline, usually elicits a diatribe from me against the subjectivity and poor qualifications of the Literature committee, but this year I am going to hold off until the prize is actually announced on Thursday. I've heard rumors that Cormac McCarthy may be under consideration, and as an American author hasn't won since 1993 (when Toni Morrison was the recipient), I would be excited if he did in fact receive the prize.

Connections

2010-09-30T13:35:00.004-04:00

I was pleased to read yesterday that Annette Gordon-Reed, Dartmouth Class of 1981, has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur "Genius" grant. As I've mentioned before, I had the privilege of working on her seminal book, the National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hemingses of Monticello, during my time at W.W. Norton. And since I was the one who sent out the advanced reader copies to the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize judges, I have long (facetiously) claimed credit for her success, which has now been increased by this most coveted of awards. But in all seriousness, a hearty congratulations to Professor Gordon-Reed!

October will see the launching of The Waterman Institute, a new center for faith and learning at Dartmouth. Named for early twentieth century minister Rev. Lucius Waterman, the center is not officially affiliated with the College, though it caters heavily to the Dartmouth and Hanover populations. A number of my former colleagues at The Dartmouth Apologia, now graduated, have administrative and other roles at the Institute. The first official event is a three-week series entitled "What's the Point of Education?" I'm excited to see the Institute get off the ground and look forward to its continued growth in the Dartmouth and surrounding communities.

Out in Siberia, the chess Olympiad is starting to come down to the wire. With two rounds to go, the U.S. men's team is in a three-way tie for fourth place, two points behind leader Ukraine. On the women's side, the U.S. team is in a ten-way tie for eleventh place and is in all likelihood out of medal contention. Go USA!

In other news, science has once again spent countless quantities of time and money proving what grandmothers the world over already knew: Gargling salt water can help alleviate cold symptoms.

Celebrations timely and premature

2010-09-27T00:28:00.006-04:00

Ellen celebrated her birthday this past week. Exciting in its own regard, this was especially momentous for us as it was our first special occasion since returning from the honeymoon. Since her birthday fell in mid-week, Ellen had to put in a full day at work, but we managed to properly observe the occasion all the same.

On the subject of holidays, we stopped at a nearby Kohl's earlier in the week. What to our wondering eyes did appear but ... Christmas decorations! Ellen and I were duly aghast. I can understand retailers' wanting to get an early jump on the Christmas shopping season by preempting Thanksgiving by a few days, but putting up decorations more than a quarter of a year early is just tasteless.

From the chess world, the Olympiad is currently underway in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. After five rounds, the U.S. men's team is in a large tie for sixth place with four wins and one loss (to Russia) while the U.S. women's team is tied for third-fourth place with four wins and a draw (to Hungary). Monday's matchups feature the men in action against Vietnam while the women take on Georgia. Go USA!

Closer to home, I won the Troy Fall Octos on Saturday. Sponsored by the Knights Chess Club of Keene, New Hampshire, the tournament was run as two four-player sections ("quads") instead of one eight-player section (an "octo") as originally advertised. This meant stronger competition and more exciting games, so I didn't mind the change. After three hard-fought and exciting games, I finished with a score of +2 -0 =1. It was only my second over-the-board tournament since January, but I was pleased with the result as well as with my games themselves.

Back in the saddle

2010-09-18T10:19:00.006-04:00

It's nice to be back in New Hampshire, but after a year in Buffalo, I've had to reacquaint myself with the realities of rural life. One jarring realization was that it's more than ten miles to the nearest store that's open past 10 pm. Additionally, you can't watch the Yankees on television unless it's a national broadcast, since New Hampshire is considered "out of market." On the plus side, though, the lake/foliage/stars are magnificent. You just can't get scenery like that in Western New York (though it certainly has pockets of great beauty). But most importantly (and on the subject of great beauty), Ellen is here, which no place else can boast!

Just before the wedding, I was rehired by the same ambulance company for which I worked following my college graduation. My New York State paramedic certification does not transfer to New Hampshire or Vermont (where the company is physically located, although it operates under New Hampshire protocols), so I am in the process of "transferring my card," as they say. Given the considerable amount of bureaucracy involved, things are actually progressing relatively quickly at this point. Hopefully the process will continue to go smoothly.

While I wait, however, I am doing my junior/senior time at work. Whenever an ambulance company hires a new paramedic, he gets paired with a more experienced paramedic while he gets acquainted with the equipment, company policies and procedures, etc. It's an orientation of sorts, coupled with an informal evaluation of skills. As junior/senior time can often take a number of weeks, I'm fortunate to be able to do it now. This way, once I test out for NH/VT and my paperwork all goes through, I'll be able to go online right away.

In other news, some malls in Brooklyn are trying a new tack in the war on teenager loiterers. While there are no doubt legitimate reasons for pursuing such policies, all I can think of is the Neighborhood Watch Alliance from the film Hot Fuzz.

Wedding!

2010-09-15T14:58:00.004-04:00

I married my fiancee Ellen last weekend in Woodstock, Vermont. It was a whirlwind weekend that started with the wedding rehearsal at the church on Friday afternoon. That led almost directly into the rehearsal dinner, which was a lot of fun. Few of our relatives had attended the rehearsal but most were at the dinner; in some cases we were meeting each other's extended family for the first time. Earlier in the week, I had been afraid that I might spend all of Friday night tossing and turning from nervousness. By the end of the rehearsal dinner, though, I was so physically and emotionally exhausted that fatigue conquered nerves, yielding ten hours of much-needed sleep.

Saturday morning began quietly enough, and I made sure to eat a heaping bowl of Wheaties before heading to the church. We arrived an hour and a half early in order to get in a bunch of pictures with the photographer before the ceremony. Despite Hurricane Earl barreling its way up the Eastern Seaboard, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. When the time came to enter the sanctuary, I was filled with excitement and nervousness, both muted by an overarching serenity.

Yet nothing could prepare me for the flood of emotion when the rear sanctuary doors opened and I watched Ellen begin to walk down the aisle. The joy and awe were indescribable. For as long as I live, I will never forget the way she looked and the way she looked at me. Though I remember keenly what was said and done, the rest of the ceremony nevertheless seems as a blur to me.

The wedding ceremony was followed by more photographs, this time with Ellen and me together with our families. After that the relatives were dismissed, and the wedding party retired to a nearby garden for one final round of photos. It was here that Hurricane Earl caught up to us, in the form of a brief but ferocious downpour. He was too late, though, as we had snapped nearly all the pictures we desired. As it began clearing up, we made our way back to Hanover for the reception.

Ellen and I both had a terrific time at the reception. An energetic cadre of friends had done a fantastic job decorating the DOC House for the event, and the decorations beautifully complimented the picturesque scenery. Perhaps best of all, though, was the opportunity to celebrate and rejoice with the friends and relatives who had traveled from all around the country to share the day with us. There were of course more pictures, plus toasts (my best man gave a terrific chess-and-marriage-themed toast), food, a slide show and naturally the cutting and first-bite-feeding of the wedding cake. And at long last, the time came for us to make our exit.

Next up for us was a night at a lakefront cottage in New Hampshire followed by a weeklong honeymoon on the beach in Florida. It was a superlative seven days. And now we're back in the Upper Valley, excited to be building our married life together, one minute at a time.

(PS: Pictures will be posted shortly.)

Residency

2010-08-29T22:19:00.006-04:00

I officially established New Hampshire residency this week. It was a little sad, to be honest. I've been a resident of New York State for all of my twenty three years. On top of that, the NH driver license isn't nearly as cool-looking as its NY counterpart. Looking on the bright side, though, NH is a great place to live and I'm looking forward to establishing outposts of Yankee pride in territory generally considered "Red Sox Nation."

Living in Hanover for four years as an undergrad did not fully prepare me for small-town New England life. Being the site of an Ivy League college, Hanover tends to be more cosmopolitan than other parts of the state. (I mean this literally: Hanover is populated by citizens of the world.) But I'm not in Hanover anymore. On Tuesday, I paid a visit to the Enfield municipal building to obtain proof of residency so I could get my New Hampshire driver license.

"Hello, I just moved here this week, and I was wondering if I could get a proof of residency to show the DMV."
"We are the DMV."
"Great. Then can I apply for a driver license?"
"Oh, we don't do that here. You have to go to the DMV."

Eventually I not only secured the proof of residency (and, the next day, my license) but also registered to vote, obtained a transfer station permit and signed up for a library card. And don't get me wrong, I think New England and New Englanders are terrific. But before my time in New Hampshire is through, this New Yorker is going to prove that you can get there from here.

Moving

2010-08-28T23:30:00.004-04:00

I packed the car last Sunday for another trip down I-90 to New Hampshire. This time, though, I wasn't simply visiting for a long weekend. At long last, after being too many months and too many miles apart from Ellen, I was moving to New Hampshire for good. Needless to say, this knowledge greatly alleviated the aggravation of packing. With one final goodbye to Buffalo, I folded my lanky frame into the car and set off for home.

The drive itself was straightforward, although I was combating rain for most of the trip. At times, the rain would strike the windshield with deafening ferocity. This flummoxed the noise-canceling feature on my hands-free headset, but when impeded phone conversation is the worst misadventure to befall you during a road trip, things aren't looking so bad (though don't get me wrong, I would much preferred to hear what Ellen was saying and vice versa).

I'm still settling into the apartment (I'm staying with my pastor until the wedding and will join Ellen in our apartment after the honeymoon), but the unpacking is going fairly smoothly. It's certainly a pleasant chore, and the best part is the company. It's hard to believe that after so much time apart, Ellen and I are finally back in the same area. Exciting times!

In other news, the New York Knights defeated the Boston Blitz 4-0 in the opening match of the 2010 U.S. Chess League season. Congratulations to all the Knights players and good luck in Week Two!

Graduation party

2010-08-24T09:19:00.003-04:00

Saturday was the graduation party for the day and evening paramedic classes. The event took place at our instructor's home. It was a lot of fun to see (almost) everybody one last time, and I always welcome any endeavor that will give me a break from packing. Our instructor has a beautiful home located on the edge of a lagoon, and while I personally did not partake, a number of my classmates availed themselves of his peddle boat (there was also a canoe).

Although dark clouds had been looming ominously all day long, the rain fortunately held off for the majority of the celebration. And even when it did start to drizzle, we all huddled under the tents and managed to remain dry. There was no shortage of food or conversation as we reminisced about the year gone by. Near the end of the party, the instructors convened us one last time to hand out the class awards. I was delighted and honored to learn that I had graduated first in my class.

A class picture was taken and goodbyes were exchanged; in time each of us took his leave. It has been a memorable and rewarding year full of challenges and growth. I got what I came for and met some remarkable people along the way. I look forward to staying in touch and hope we all meet again soon.

Paramedic!

2010-08-22T00:57:00.004-04:00

I passed the New York State written exam Thursday night, which means I am now a certified paramedic!

Things started off with an early dinner at Dinosaur BBQ in downtown Rochester. The entire day class and most of the night class, along with the instructors and the clinical coordinator, caravaned down for the pre-test repast. I'd never been to Dinosaur before, but I'd heard great things. Its reputation, I can now say with confidence, is well deserved. The barbecued brisket sandwich, cole slaw and fruit salad left nothing to be desired.

After dinner, we made the ten-minute drive to the Public Safety Training Facility at Monroe Community College, which served as the testing site. There are numerous testing locations around New York State, but only four offer on-site scoring (Albany, Syracuse and New York City are the others). The advantage to on-site scoring is that your test is graded as soon as you turn it in and, if you pass, you receive your certification card on the spot. If you are not participating in on-site scoring, your exam is mailed to Albany, where it is hand-graded and the results returned to you within six to eight weeks. Forget that.

The exam itself consisted of 235 multiple-choice questions, of which ten are ungraded "pilot" questions. These are questions the state is considering using on future exams, but which it first gives to us to gauge their difficulty. You never find out which ones were the pilot questions, but they don't figure into your final score anyway. Of the 225 graded questions, the first seventy five are Basic Life Support level. A score of 70% is required to pass this section; if you fail the BLS section, you fail the entire exam. Assuming you pass the BLS section, you then must score 70% or better on the paramedic section to successfully pass the exam (if you pass the basic section but fail the advanced, it would count as your recert and your current certification would be extended for three years).

I won't receive a more detailed score breakdown for a little while, but I do know that I scored 89% on the BLS section and 91% on the paramedic section. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to receive my scores. As it turned out, everybody in both classes passed comfortably, with no one coming within even ten points of the minimum. The results are a testament not only to how hard we worked and studied all year long, but also to how well our instructors prepared us.

We waited for all of our classmates to finish--it was a four hour test, although our times ranged from just over two hours to three and a quarter--and then voyaged back to Buffalo, where Cole's Bar had been selected for the "after party." I didn't stay deep into the night, but it was fun celebrating with my classmates and (now former!) instructors. And since I had to drive home, I limited my exuberance to two large glasses of ginger ale. Best ginger ale I've ever tasted.

Chess update

2010-08-17T17:17:00.008-04:00

The last remaining game has finished in my correspondence chess tournament. Although I concluded my games at the end of June, my final tournament standing was not definite until the other players had finished too. Now it's clear that, as predicted, I tied for second place and picked up eleven correspondence chess rating points. I was seeded sixth out of seven players at the start of the event, so I'm pleased with the result overall (although I made poor moves at critical moments in my two losses and ought to have put up a tougher fight). All the games were fun and instructional, however, and I'm looking forward to playing in another correspondence chess tournament soon.

There isn't much in New Hampshire in terms of over-the-board chess tournaments. Many of the tournaments that do exist are scheduled for holiday weekends, which often makes it difficult to attend. In recent years, though, Alex Relyea has done an admirable job of organizing new events across the state. Hopefully I'll be able to attend more of his tournaments in the coming years (my lone participation in one of his tournaments was the 2008 South Burlington Plus-Score, which I won with a 4-0 score). For now, however, my priority is preparing for the wedding and then settling into married life.

For those of you not keeping up with Icelandic paternity litigation, the DNA test results have come back in the Bobby Fischer paternity case. The former World Chess Champion was exhumed from his grave in Selfoss, Iceland earlier this year to settle a suit brought by his former partner, Marilyn Young. Ms. Young alleged that Fischer fathered her daughter Jinky; the DNA testing proved that he did not.

In other news, the Ben & Jerry's store in Hanover closed over the weekend. Its replacement, Carnival I Scream, is slated to open tomorrow. While I'll be sorry to see Ben & Jerry's (and especially Free Cone Day) go, I'm looking forward to visiting its successor!

Black Eyed Peas

2010-08-16T23:50:00.006-04:00

Part of my last-full-week-of-work duties involved a standby shift at HSBC Arena on Wednesday. I hadn't been to an Arena standby in a while--not since hockey season ended--but when the Black Eyed Peas came to town, I answered the call. All in all it was a fun concert. Even though I didn't know every song they played, it was a high-energy performance and an exuberant crowd. The concert was more of a production than the Elton John/Billy Joel show I saw in the early spring--costume changes and dancers and multimedia components--but it rarely detracted from the music itself. I hear Nickelback is coming to HSBC sometime in September ... I'm going to have to figure out a way to get on the schedule for that show.

With my departure for New Hampshire only days away, I've reluctantly begun to pack. Ordinarily, packing is pretty straightforward: I grab half a dozen trash bags and stuff all my belongings in them. Once I arrive at my new abode, I begin the arduous process of sorting through everything and weeding out items I no longer want or need. This year, I'm trying a different tack and sorting through everything before packing it up. I'm hoping to spend less time unpacking on the other end; there's certainly enough else to occupy me in the last days before the wedding!

Moving downstate, the New York City Department of Transportation just released a report analyzing more than 7,000 crashes from the middle of the decade in which at least one pedestrian suffered severe or fatal injuries. The report concluded, among other things, that left-hand turns were most likely to result in fatal collisions and jaywalkers stood a lower chance of being run down than people using crosswalks (these are not necessarily related. After all, it's hard to picture hitting a jaywalker while turning left in the middle of a block). The correlation-causation disconnect applies here, as it does to any statistical compilation, but it's nevertheless interesting to hear five years of collisions tell their tales.

In other news, football season is almost upon us. The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets in their preseason matchup Monday night. This is a great time of year to be a sports fan.

Firsts and lasts

2010-08-14T12:05:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was the end of (hopefully!) my last full week of work as an EMT-Basic. I'm working one day next week and then taking my paramedic exam on Thursday. If all goes well, I can turn in my exam results to the Human Resources manager and switch job classifications on the spot. There's a training program at the company where new paramedics are paired with senior medics for orientation and training; this process takes roughly a month, depending on call volume and other factors. Unfortunately, I'm moving to New Hampshire four days after the exam.

It's possible to remain part-time with the company (which requires fifty two hours of work per quarter) even from afar, but as far as I can tell, no one has ever tried to do their new-medic orientation on that schedule. I'm waiting to hear back from the operations manager as to what that would look like for me. Trying to do my training in fifty-two hour spurts every three months could take a long, long time. I'm not even certain that I'll try to stay on, though I'd like to, but I'm going to wait to hear back before making a final decision.

Not all of the hospitals in Buffalo have helipads, so from time to time the helicopter is forced to rendezvous with a ground ambulance to bring a patient the rest of the way to the receiving hospital. Yesterday I got to do my first airlift-assist. The second the chopper was on the ground, we rushed out with the stretcher, speedily transferred the patient and then rushed back to the ambulance, crouching down under the rotors all the way. The whole process took maybe three minutes. It was just like a scene from a movie, only cooler because it was real life with a real patient.

In other news, the U.S. Chess League is about to get underway. The New York Knights open the season against the Boston Blitz next Monday at 7 pm. You can bet I'll be watching!

Buffalo anniversary

2010-08-07T18:07:00.005-04:00

Today is the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Buffalo. Looking back, it doesn't feel like a year. Or maybe it does. Time is hard to measure retrospectively. As things wind down, I'm finding myself starting to say goodbye to people and places that have become familiar parts of my Western NY life. It's a little strange and a little sad, but the world is a smaller place than it used to be, and goodbye less final.

Since I'm moving out of Buffalo in sixteen days, I'm scrambling to get in all the touristy activities I haven't done yet. Yesterday, a college friend and I went to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo's art museum. We had a lot of fun; the Albright-Knox has a respectable line-up of big-name artists in their permanent collection--Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet--as well as a number of painters and sculptors I've never heard of (which admittedly isn't saying much).

I played in the Sardinia Open chess tournament today. In my first tournament since the end of January, I tied for first with a score of 2.5 - 0.5. At times I felt slightly rusty, but overall I was pleased with my play. Here is my favorite game from the event, a Round Two victory over Albert "Pat" Patterson, rated 1764.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 0-0 6. Be3 Nbd7 7. Qd2 c5 8. d5 a6 9. Be2 Rb8 10. g4 Ne5 11. h3 Ne8 12. f4 Nd7 13. h4 Nc7 14. a4 Nf6

15. f5 b5 16.Bf3 bxc4 17. h5 g5 18. Bxg5 e6 19. h6 Bh8 20. Bh4 exd5 21. Qg5+ Black resigns.

If you can think of any can't-miss Buffalo attractions I should visit before moving back to New Hampshire, please let me know!

New York in the news

2010-08-04T00:02:00.005-04:00

New York was in the news quite a bit today. For starters, the state legislature finally passed its budget. This would ordinarily be unremarkable, were the budget not 125 days late. The latest budget ever to be turned in, according to The New York Times, was passed on August 11, 2004. This year's edition avoided that dubious milestone by the narrowest of margins. I maintain that California remains the most dysfunctional state, but this budget fiasco certainly didn't help New York's standing any (neither did temporarily relinquishing control of the AL East).

The state legislature also passed a bill that would count prison inmates as residents of their pre-incarceration towns and cities, rather than counting them as residents of the town in which their prison is located. I'm not philosophically opposed to the idea--it makes some sense--but there's one part that confuses me. In some circumstances, individuals with felony convictions are not permitted to vote. What then is the purpose of redrawing Congressional districts to better represent people who cannot vote for their representatives in the first place?

On a more positive note, Tuesday's New York Times also featured an article about an experimental treatment for cardiac arrest patients: Induced hypothermia. The article, which was satisfactory but superficial, focused primarily on the implementation of cooling therapy in New York City. Apparently they piloted the treatment with local hospitals and are now beginning to train prehospital providers in its use.

Induced hypothermia is an interesting and promising treatment. Current research indicates that the actual mechanism of clinical death among cardiac arrest patients is a buildup of lactic acid and other toxic byproducts of cellular respiration. By lowering the body temperature, the reasoning goes, the body's metabolism is decreased, thereby slowing the release of these toxic byproducts. Early results from this new therapy are encouraging.

My only beef with the article--besides failing to give a suitable overview of what the treatment entails and why it might be effective--is that it barely mentions Buffalo's induced hypothermia program, which is much further along than Manhattan's. Whereas New York City paramedics are just now receiving training in the procedure, some ambulance companies in Western New York have been using it on the street for months. I did part of my field internship with one such agency, but I didn't have the opportunity to employ the treatment during my ride time.

Ellen's final Buffalo visit

2010-08-02T11:43:00.010-04:00

Ellen came out to visit this weekend for the last time before I move back to New Hampshire. We had a terrific time, combining a belated birthday celebration with sightseeing and low-key time together too. On Saturday, we went to watch the Buffalo Bisons take on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in AAA minor league baseball (the Bisons won, 4-1). Watching a minor league game is a much different experience from attending a major league stadium; for starters, the minor league stadia usually have about one quarter the seating capacity of their big-league brethren. This means you can get much closer to the action without spending a fortune. In fact, it costs the same amount of money to watch two Yankees games from field level ($250 per seat) as it does to buy season tickets to the Bisons ($505 per seat for seventy one home games). Then again, you get what you pay for. Unless A.J. Burnett is pitching, anyway.

On Sunday we crossed the border and went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. What an experience. We'd been to see the American Falls in February, but the Horseshoe Falls are considerably bigger. The weather was perfect for waterfall-watching: Sunny and clear but not too hot. We bought tickets for the Maid of the Mist boat, which was incredible. It first took us past the base of the American Falls before turning and heading right up to the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls. The wind and spray from the waterfall were pretty ferocious, but we had a terrific vantage point from which to appreciate the Falls. I'll post pictures soon.

Ellen is on her way home now, sadly, but it's only three weeks until I head back east for good. And I won't be hurting for things to do between now and then, so hopefully the time will pass quickly!

Practical exam

2010-07-30T19:05:00.003-04:00

I passed the NYS practical exam on Monday. The exam consisted of three advanced life support skill stations (cardiology, ventilatory management and intravenous therapy) and four basic life support skill stations (trauma assessment, seated spinal immobilization, bleeding control/shock management and long bone splinting). Some of these stations had multiple components, however, so it actually felt like more. For example, cardiology was broken down into static and dynamic cardiology and there were two pharmacology sub-stations during the intravenous therapy evaluation.

I passed all of the stations on the first try except for one; I accidentally placed my finger in the wrong spot while starting an IV and contaminated the site. That mistake was easy enough to correct, and I passed the retest with no problems. The rest of my class passed as well, which means there are nineteen students preparing to take the state written exam in August (nine from the night class and ten from the day class).

Between now and then, I am studying for the state exam, working on the ambulance and just trying to enjoy my last weeks in Western NY. It's been a full and exciting year, and I'm intent on ending the year on a high note by passing the state exam. Almost there!

In other news, the Boy Scouts of America announced their newest Merit Badge: Chess!

Turning 23

2010-07-25T15:18:00.004-04:00

I turned twenty three last Saturday. To celebrate the occasion, I went down to Westchester to visit my family and attend Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium. It was a short trip, on account of the looming community college final exam for my paramedic program, but it was chock-full of activities. On Friday, my brother and I saw the just-released "Inception," starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Talk about a complex movie, but it was quite an experience, especially seeing it on the big screen.

Saturday was the big day itself. New York City was experiencing a heat wave, which meant staying shielded and hydrated was extremely important. My usual modus operandi for baseball games is to forego sunblock, suffer a severe sunburn and then wish I hadn't. Older and wiser now, I instead opted for the preventative application of some SPF 50. That in conjunction with some well-placed shade made for an altogether sunburn-free day.

The Old Timers' Day festivities were a lot of fun. Many of the surviving figures in Yankees lore were in attendance, luminaries like Whitey Ford, Don Larsen and Ron Guidry. Yogi Berra had planned on coming but he had suffered a fall the night before and was recuperating at home. After the introductions were complete, there was a two-inning scrimmage between the two sides, although many of the old Old Timers were replaced by more recent veterans such as Pat Kelly and David Cone.

The Yankees-Rays game was less dramatic than the exhibition game preceding it, in large part because A.J. Burnett gave an early preview of the final result by allowing five runs in 2.1 innings. Still, we had great seats and it was fun to see my favorite players up close. Watching games on TV just isn't the same experience, for watching the players or the game. And of course the new Yankee Stadium has to be seen to be believed. It was quite a birthday!

Final exams

2010-07-20T14:40:00.005-04:00

I finished paramedic school this morning. This doesn't mean I'm a paramedic yet; I still have to pass the state practical and written exams. But as far as the community college is concerned, I have completed its program and will be graduating next month. The program culminated in a two-day, 276 question comprehensive final exam administered yesterday and today. It was a demanding exam but a fair one, and I am satisfied with my score. Now to duplicate it (or better) on the NYS written exam!

Now that the college final is behind me, I'm hoping to tackle the mountain of tasks that have piled up while I was immersed in the thick of clinicals. (Reading, writing, chess, paid ambulance work and vaccuuming my bedroom headline a long and distinguished list.) I'm also looking forward to being able to help Ellen with wedding planning again, after too long with too little to contribute.

I've also picked out two chess tournaments, one in August and one in September. I haven't played over-the-board since January, so I'm looking forward to getting back into it. Hopefully I'll have a little time to study and prepare before playing round one!

Speaking of chess, congratulations to International Masters Irina Krush and Samuel Shankland, the new U.S. Women's and Junior champions, respectively!

A New Hampshire Fourth

2010-07-10T21:23:00.005-04:00

I traveled to New Hampshire last weekend to spend the Independence Day holiday with Ellen. It was a terrific trip in so many ways. We continued to set up and furnish our apartment, and apart from those brief errands, there was nothing to do but spend three days enjoying the beautiful weather together. On Sunday, we stopped by the Dartmouth Green after church for Hanover's Fourth of July celebration and then watched Lebanon's fireworks show in the evening. The Hanover event was shockingly small, much more so than in years past. We had a great vantage point for the fireworks, though, and enjoyed the show quite a bit.

I had hoped to continue on to Westchester after my visit to New Hampshire, but unfortunately my clinical schedule did not allow it. I was assigned a new preceptor at the end of last week, and the way his schedule was set up, I just couldn't spare the time away. My father and I had planned to see Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday, but I guess it'll have to wait until another year. Happy birthday anyway, Ringo!

Big week for sports coming up. The World Cup final is tomorrow, the Home Run Derby and All-Star game are Monday and Tuesday, and the U.S. Women's and U.S. Junior Closed Chess Championships began today and will last through the week. It's going to be exciting!

Clinical IV draws to a close

2010-06-30T22:18:00.005-04:00

Today was my next to last shift in the ED. Following Thursday evening's shift I will be all done with Clinical IV. On the whole I have had a terrific experience in the ED. The staff has been eager to teach, and it has been a great opportunity to practice a wide range of skills that will serve me well in the field. Not only is tomorrow my final day, but it's almost the grand opening of the new wing of the ED. It's supposed to be quite spiffy. Rumor has it they haven't hired enough personnel to staff it, though, so I'm interested to see how everything plays out.

My field internship is also nearing completion. Unfortunately, my preceptor suffered a shoulder injury last weekend, so he is out of action until after Clinical V ends. I'm currently scrambling to find another preceptor so I can finish up my last few shifts before clinical break ends in mid-July. I'm not too worried about it, but it's temporarily stressful as my schedule for the next few weeks awaits resolution.

On a more positive note, I am heading back to New Hampshire this weekend to spend the Fourth of July with Ellen. This will be the fifth straight year I've been in the Hanover area for the Independence Day holiday; I can't think of a better place or person to spend it with.

Fifty four days until Opening Day of the U.S. Chess League!