Spent part of the weekend in Philadelphia with Surabhi and saw a ton of our old friends. Here we are walking in our old neighborhood.

The cold I acquired last week evolved into a bit of laryngitis and I’ve been mostly unable to speak at a volume above a whisper for 48 hours now. That didn’t slow down the socializing too much (still enjoyed Kevin and Jess’s wedding) but it is starting to be a real concern with a few overnight shifts coming up.

A topic playlist.

The Big Wu – Red Sky (Apologies for MySpace link)
Blind Mellon – No Rain
Doors – Riders on The Storm
Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
They Might Be Giants – When it Rains it Snows (Hidden Track – TMBG-I’ll Sink Manhattan)
Hollies – Blowin’ in the Wind (If you prefer another version, I won’t argue with you, but this one fits with the flow of things.)
Bob Dylan – Hurricaine
Ramones – Have You Seen the Rain? (Again, with apologies to Creedence)
Beta Band – Dry The Rain
Len – Steal my Sunshine
Velvet Underground – Who Loves The Sun?
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Over The Rainbow

Stay dry, friends.

I worked an overnight shift on Thursday. Not a particularly notable event, but this was my last scheduled shift in residency. We don’t actually finish till the end of the month, but for the rest of the time, I’m teaching medical students in the department.

At the end of the month, we’re taking a trip to San Francisco for Jon Ford and Emiley Fong’s wedding. We’ll see Rachel, Brian, and hopefully other northern California friends. After that, back to Philadelphia for just about two days, then moving to Pittsburgh on July 8th, with work starting for me on July 10th.

Any Philly-area people I haven’t been in touch with recently, now is pretty much the time to make some plans with us, though we’ll be back quite a bit. Surabhi and I will still (pretty much always) work nights, weekends, holidays, etc but our total number of shifts/hours will be a good bit less than for the last few years.

I was involved in the care of a patient two days ago who had a puncture injury to the thigh which he reported was caused by a sword. He was fine* and ultimately discharged home.

Yesterday, Surabhi was involved in the care of a patient in her hospital (30 minutes and a state border away) who had a sword injury…in the same thigh. Oh, and the injury occurred the day before. He had an expertly dressed wound, hospital socks, and a mark over his dorsalis pedis pulse which he explained by suggesting that his girlfriend was a nurse who had done all those things for him at home, and denied having any prior actual medical attention for the wound.

Motivations? Entirely unclear.

* – “fine” is to be understood in as “fine for someone who was stabbed in the thigh by a sword”

And now for some unsolicited financial advice, from someone who is definitely not a financial advice professional-

If you have a bit of money in the bank, and if you haven’t already, this is the time of year to consider putting some money into a Roth IRA. There are some exceptions, but in general, this is money that you’d be putting away for retirement. I’m trying to retire in 2015*, so I knew I had to get started early.

Retirement saving, like disability and life insurance, regularly scheduled car maintenance, dental check-ups, and laundry, was something that gave me a vague sense of unease, so I largely ignored it. But I eventually learned that you can only buy so many socks, and that putting money into a Roth is pretty damn simple. It’s also a good idea for most people who qualify.

Unless you are making over six figures, you qualify to contribute $5000. Your spouse also qualifies for the same amount. (Total eligibility and contribution limits from Schwab.com) This is money you have already paid income taxes on. All you need to do is create an account with a broker (I use Vanguard, but there are many out there) before this year’s tax deadline. You will be contributing to your 2010 Roth IRA, which is effectively a type of container that you put money in, and then choose where you actually want to invest it (again, I use the Vanguard Target Retirement Date funds, but the options are limitless). The neat trick is that when you reach retirement age and take this money out, anything you’ve earned is tax-free. Almost all of your other investments will be taxed at that time.

I may be able to answer basic questions you have on this if any of you would like to look into it further.

* – Don’t tell Surabhi

Just one of our pictures from Peru in December. It’s Surabhi showing off Machu Pichu.

We’re trying a little something new here at Flipse.com. If you aren’t happy about that, the old stuff is still available.

I’m hoping to be able to add some new content, while still mostly talking about Mexican Coke, recounting road trip adventures, intermittently posting pictures, and otherwise acting up. You can even register to post comments, which brings our site technology squarely into the 1990s.

Let me know what you think.