My Latest Posts
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Curiosity
What are you curious about? Curiosity seems to be a common theme lately, as I contemplate what it means to be an engaged human being. “A strong desire to know or learn something”…
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A sad day at the Louvre
I’ll never forget our trip as a family to Paris and the day we visited the Louvre back in July of 2017. The experience was overwhelming! So much art and wondrous architecture. This…
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Monument Valley
Few places have so inspired me and filled me with awe that I was left speechless. Monument Valley is now one of them. My daughter and I visited the last week of September,…
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Sleep
The American culture has a hard time with sleep. In clinical practice, it literally is one of the top things I discuss with patients. The struggle is very real: folks have a hard…
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As you read these posts, please remember that I am offering general advice and not specific medical counseling for your particular situation. If you have specific questions about integrating medical advice, adventure, and health habits into your life, please discuss with your professional medical team including your primary care provider. This is especially true for those with cardiac, metabolic, pulmonary, autoimmune and any other serious medical or mental health condition.
The following is a complete list of posts by date:
Curiosity
What are you curious about? Curiosity seems to be a common theme lately, as I contemplate what it means to be an engaged human being. “A strong desire to know or learn something” (Oxford Dictionary) is the official definition. I realize that in my profession, part of what I am paid to accomplish is to…
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A sad day at the Louvre
I’ll never forget our trip as a family to Paris and the day we visited the Louvre back in July of 2017. The experience was overwhelming! So much art and wondrous architecture. This week though, I remembered specifically a walk through the Apollon Gallery and the pictures I took: Beauty can be fleeting. Bad players…
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Monument Valley
Few places have so inspired me and filled me with awe that I was left speechless. Monument Valley is now one of them. My daughter and I visited the last week of September, and took an awesome tour with a local guide. Here is a link to the campground we used which also has the…
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Sleep
The American culture has a hard time with sleep. In clinical practice, it literally is one of the top things I discuss with patients. The struggle is very real: folks have a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep, and then wake up too early. Different factors affect sleep in significant ways: stress, bad habits, relational…
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Subscribers Newletter
It has been two years since I started this blog and webpage, and I so appreciate the small cadre of readers who have subscribed. I so hope it has been helpful for you and that you have enjoyed following along on some adventures, and hopefully planning some of your own. I’ve added a few more…
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Backpacking to Silver Lake
August without any smoke in the sky is the time to go high in the Olympics. Snow is pretty much melted away, and the days are warm and the nights are just pleasant. I hiked to Silver Lake last year for a day hike (Fantastic Day Hike!), but wanted to stay the night and then…
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Grand Lake, Olympic National Park
I took a few days off work in order to go hiking with my son up in the Olympic Mountains. We went to a new spot called Grand Lake, which neither of us had visited. It is within the national park and requires a wilderness overnight permit which can be purchased at recreation.gov. The difficult…
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Naches Peak Trail Loop, again!
It’s July and my family spent a weekend up near Chinook Pass, and after everyone left and I finished my cleanup chores, I drove up to the pass for another dose of my favorite hike: Naches Peak Loop! It’s my go-to hike for July because of a number of factors. First the snow pack is…
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Mount Townsend
It was a moody Juneteenth in the Olympics, with a marine layer just hanging out over the mountains and hiding them from view. I organized a hike with folks from work and over ten people participated, many hiking up into the Eastern Olympics for the first time. I was excited for them but was worried…
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The Snow is Melting
I am excited about the summer! In Washington State, the first sign of impending adventure is the opening of the mountain passes. Chinook Pass to be specific and the road to some of my favorite destinations is open as of Memorial Day Weekend! We spent some time in the mountains and traversed the pass finding…
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Dosewallips, Olympic National Park
The first backpacking trip of the year was a great success! I was able to invite folks from work for a first overnight hiking trip for 3 of 4 of them, and get all my gear out and put it to use! We had a great time, and this particular part of Olympic National Park…
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Hiking in the wilderness
What activities do you lose yourself in? I always thought Groundhog Day was a pretty funny movie, until I actually considered the reality of it. Every day is another repeat… wash, rinse, spin over and over and over and over. For the characters in the original movie, obsession with getting a relationship right was not…
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No
Do you trust your instincts? My first thought when I saw this prompt was to answer yes: I follow my instincts all the time. I feel like my work day is full of this dynamic: I have a feeling, then I act on it and make the right call. I have a conversation with a…
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Iceland is Awesome
In July of 2023, I was plotting my travel back to Seattle from Spain after leaving my son there for a semester abroad. We had developed an epic plan involving flights to London, the Chunnel, Paris, Bordeaux, and then an afternoon stop in Hendaye, and a train to Donastia, where he would be staying and…
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Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?
I just today heard that the richest man in the world commented that social security is a Ponzi Scheme, which is a term most people have probably heard at one time or another but it’s hard to define except it has negative connotations. Let’s take a moment to break this down. Ponzi scheme: by definition,…
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How is your heart?
If you are going to worry about your health, what should be on the top of the list? Your HEART. Number one killer: In the United States, one of every 5 deaths is heart related. This has been the case for decades, but our treatment abilities for this deadly group of diseases has increased significantly.…
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It’s Lottery Season!
Yes, Mt Rainier National Park is still snowed in and will be until the 4th of July. Same with the Enchantments up near Leavenworth WA. In order to stay over night and backpack in these amazing locations, you need to enter a lottery at recreation.gov and see if randomly you get to pre-book you trip.…
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The choice is impossible
Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why? I just can’t decide! I look at the montage of images in my mind of all the beaches… the soft sand seeping up in between my toes, the beautiful sunsets, the waves and the way they wash over me, powerful and at the same time calming. Then…
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First hike of the year…
The weather is beautiful and cold in the Northwest. We’ve had an unusual 10 days or so of clear skies and sunshine. The temperatures have been cold, but we decided to brave the chill and do a short hike to see some nature and a cute waterfall. We visited Ludlow Falls in Port Ludlow, Washington.…
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The elephant in the room
For decades, the healthcare world believed that a bit of alcohol every day provided some heart benefit, specifically red wine. It seemed to be part of the magical Mediterranean diet, which again and again proves wondrous for the human heart and decreased disease. Unfortunately, the science behind this suggestion was wrong, and not only false…
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How Audiobooks Transformed My Reading Habit
During the last three years, my life has been significantly enhanced and helped by a new habit: listening to audiobooks. For years, I enjoyed reading a few books per year, but was always feeling like I was missing out. Time to read was short and I always struggled with the act of sitting or laying…
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Cool Art #3
Woman with a Parasol, Claude Monet This painting resides at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC. This oil on canvas work shows his wife and son, with brushes of color, and movement. The wind is blowing through the painting, and shadows and his son define depth. An amazing piece of Impressionist work which…
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The mess of my mind
I usually think of clutter as the junk just laying around my house. It tends to be random at first glance, and pointlessly placed. Is this a problem for me? Not the biggest one. My wife and I have always been clean and organized folks who get rid of stuff pretty quickly if we don’t…
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2024 A retrospective
The last day of the year has come and gone. A big question comes to mind: What is the most significant medical story of 2024, at least from my perspective? I would have to say that the use of GLP-1 medications for diabetes and weight loss is #1. This has been a game changer in…
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Merry Christmas!
I had a few days off and finally sat down at my computer after a busy December. I plugged in some featured that idealized my own living room into the AI photo creator and this is what came out. Our own golden retriever is much more fluffy and our weather is just so stereotypical Northwest…
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It’s a beautiful morning…
I thought my morning walk was something I just had to get through today. Turns out, nature revealed moment after moment of scenery that literally shocked me out of my stupor. Sometimes quiet reflection is the right response…. I wish my words could do what nature does unexpectedly. I’m stunned silent by the beauty that…
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Here they are:
These are my favorites today. I make no guarantees on what my favs will be tomorrow. These are all my pictures, either in my neighborhood or in the Everglades (for the alligator).
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It’s raining a bit in the Northwest…
Olympic National Park has an amazing reputation, but mostly in the summer. This time of year, the park is really one big hazard zone, especially during and after a storm. The northwest was hit by what is called a bomb cyclone last week, and the area near the Quinault entrance had 3+ inches of water…
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Cool art, #2
Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, located at the Art Institute of Chicago. There’s a storm outside with wind and pouring down rain, and I find this piece particularly pleasant. Do you have a favorite piece in Chicago?
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Leg cramps
I hate leg cramps. My son was at summer camp and I was called by the camp nurse, just as my wife and I were heading out for a date with no kids for the first time in many years, with a report of problematic illness. He needed to be picked up tonight, now if…
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