7 years later...

7 years ago today a friend of mine, Amy, chose to have elective liposuction surgery. She was a freshman at Penn State University, and had just completed her first year. She went in for the surgery that day a bright and happy person... unfortunately she only lived to see another 2 days. What happened in her surgery was a case of great negligence by the doctors and the nurses. Last Friday (5/23) a jury handed down a $20 million dollar verdict against the doctor and staff for their negligence... his medical license is currently under review because of this case, and two other cases similar to it (fortunately the other two victims lived). I'm very happy to see that the doctor in this case was found guilty and for the fact that more people will now be aware of this guys medical history. If the family should ever see a cent of this money, they will be using it toward a scholarship fund in Amy's name. Read the articles below to learn more...

http://www.nbc10.com/investigators/16377683/detail.html?dl=mainclick

and some highlights from a different article...

For five weeks, the jury listened to testimony about the death of the 18-year-old from Newtown Square, Delaware County, who was an honors student at Penn State University.

In May 2001, she went to Glunk's plastic surgery office in King of Prussia for liposuction on her legs, stomach and under her chin. "He brought Amy Fledderman to his office and told her, 'You'll be as safe in my office as you'll be in a hospital,' and clearly she wasn't," said Slade McLaughlin, Fledderman's attorney.

Jurors heard testimony that Glunk's ambulatory surgical center was not licensed by the state for this kind of liposuction procedure and that, during the surgery, Glunk hit a blood vessel, then waited for two-and-a-half hours to call for an ambulance. Fledderman died of a fat embolism -- a common risk of liposuction -- two days after surgery.

Meanwhile, the state has held hearings considering revoking Glunk's medical license based on the Fledderman case and two others. The NBC 10 Investigators have reported about Daniel Antolini. He received a major monetary settlement after he said Glunk punched a hole in his bowel while performing liposuction. Records show another woman received a settlement after she said she nearly died from Glunk's liposuction surgery days before Fledderman's death.

Memorial Day

Memorial day weekend was awesome. I headed to Houston on Friday afternoon to meet up with my friends, Phil and Heather, for a few days. On Friday night a friend was nice enough to take us to the Houston Astro's game, then we went out to the Flying Saucer for a few drinks. Saturday we all chilled and at night headed to a party where a few bands were playing to benefit charity. One of the bands that played was Death Carpet Trio (DC3), you should check them out on iTunes. If you wanna hear an interesting song, check out "Al's Diner." After getting back into town on Sunday I headed out to Pace Bend, which i would not recommend on a holiday weekend. There were way too many drunk idiots that we only stayed for an hour before leaving. Today, Memorial Day, will be a nice relaxing and lazy day cleaning up the house and shopping for some pet toys.... maybe i'll even bake a cake :)

Another week has begun...

So first of all... My friends, Christen and Merrick, got engaged this weekend! YAY!!! Many congratulions to them :) In fact, Friday night we all went out and celebrated... though many of us drank way too much, and had a slow recovery the next day. But Christen was surprised by the whole thing and she had a great time, so it was all worth it.

Also this weekend was Brian's "Cross Catasstrophy" race. It was a great turnout and lots of fun. People seemed to really enjoy racing around the hike-n-bike trail at night while getting pummeled with water balloons... go figure.

While that was basically the excitement of the weekend, check out this new blender I got. For those of you in the market for a new blender, this is definitely the way to go. okay, okay... it's a little expensive. But I'm telling you, this blender kicks ass. It's got the best blade system out there and even makes SNOW! Yes, it has a button for making snow from ice... how cool is that! Plus it makes great smoothies and milkshakes.

Musings of the Week

So it's only Wednesday, but i'm inclined to write about some interesting stuff going on around this joint.

Firstly, check out these cool useless night lights that they have at IKEA now. They work with or without a cord and you push their heads to turn them on/off. Okay, like i said, useless, but yet strangely amusing and entertaining. Thanks to my friend, Pete and Jess, for introducing them to us. (oh yes, and as Pete proved, they are quite indestructible)

There has also been quite a lengthy discussion about retro-bolting some 5.9 routes out at Reimers Ranch this week (Backflip and My Name is Mud on Deadcats Wall). The shortened version of the discussion is this: At what lengths should the climbing community go to ensure that "easy" routes for beginners and beginner leaders are bolted 'safely' and what exactly defines 'safely.' Some feel that these routes carry too much risk due to current bolt placement, for beginners. Let me just make my opinion clear... climbing is a risk, leading is a risk, deal with it. I don't feel that there is currently any danger on My Name is Mud and that we shouldn't give the false impression to beginners that we are going to hold their hands and place bolts every 3 feet. As it stands now, this route is only 30 feet tall with 3-4 bolts plus chains, and a bommer clipping stance at the 3rd clip. If you get sketched, come down, top rope the climb... nuf said.

Okay, lastly, for those of you in Austin that don't know about the Jack and Adam's core workouts, you should check them out. Every Monday & Wednesday at 5:45pm for 1 hour at Jack and Adam's bike shop on Barton Springs and S. Lamar. The classes are free, but show up by 5:30 to get a good spot. Also they are outside and rain or shine.... bring a yoga mat or towel to lay on the ground. Mondays tend to be a harder workout with more pushups, while Wednesdays are a bit less strenuous, but still difficult, with more of a core workout. For those that climb on Tuesday's, I tend to find the Monday workout to be a little overkill on the arms, that I'm still sore for my Tuesday climbing.

- Happy Wednesday.

One more thing.... BIKE RACE THIS SUNDAY (5/18) - Hike n' Bike trail along Town Lake... start time 9pm at the Lamar Ped Bridge... bring lights!!! If you've never ridden the trail before, do so before Sunday night... it will be dark and there is a lot of construction going on... oh yes, and costumes are definitely encouraged!

My First Blog...

This past weekend was awesome. I went out to Lake LBJ with a friend and spent some time riding jet ski's and relaxing at the lake. I hadn't been jet skiing in years, so it was great to get out again. After a bit of hesitation, I found myself fairly comfortable on the thing. Though I was way sore the next day! Some friends of mine also introduced me to this game called Blokus. I suggest you check it out if you've never played. It's a great two-four player strategy game that's tetras in nature, and only takes about 10 -15 minutes to play. Great for those down days or just at night when relaxing at home. Oh, and I've also started cycle training on the south mopac 8 mile loop. I was able to pull off the loop at 19.1mph on saturday. It's not great, but it's a start. My ultimate goal is 3 loops at an average of 24mph.