My 3rd Book

My third book, entitled "Practical Handbook of Phonocardiography" has been published.

The book has a subtitle, "50 Case Studies with Embedded Audio and Video." What I want to emphasize is the word Embedded. It is true that some medical books have videos, especially in the field of cardiology. This is because seeing is believing, as proven by echocardiographic movies.

I know that books regarding auscultation often include a CD with audio files or a secret number to access Internet contents where you can download audio files.

What makes my book distinct is that both audio tracks and echo videos are embedded. That means you do not have to stop reading the book to listen to audio or to watch echo. How convenient. Don't you agree with me? I created this book since it would be one I've really wanted for years. Nobody dose make it, so I made it by myself.

Whether the book sells like hot cakes does not matter to me because I made this book for education, in order not to make money with royalty. I want medical staff in the world to use this book, so now I am wondering how I can advertise it. Becoming popular by word of mouth would be ideal, although easier said than done. Social media may be available and practical, but I am 100% sure that this blog would not work in this context.

Anyway I am very happy with my product regarding its educational objective as well as its technical achievement.

Orange Picking

The other day, my little son and I went to an orange farm close to my residential area. The fruit park is likely to be kind of a secret place. It has no ad or homepage, but I've known it by word of mouth.

The farm is inconspicuously located in front of a monorail station. The station is not my station but I go through the station twice a day during commute. Recently, I have seen a lot of oranges on trees in the farm.

On the day, when I got up, I decided to go there to hunt oranges with my kid because it was a beautifully sunny day, which is characteristic of Autumn in Japan.

One good thing about the orange park is you can eat as many oranges as you want to eat at a price of $6. What's more, you can take out one kilo of oranges per person, which may be a good souvenir for your family. Don't you think that the price — of course, it includes the entry fee — is really affordable?

My son was excited to pick oranges from trees with scissors. It seems like that he preferred getting oranges to eating them. What was fun for me was to see his excitement with joy.

When it comes to all-you-can-eat, I did not eat so much although I grabbed several oranges. To be honest, I was not hungry at all; I had 3 rice balls before we came to the farm park for no specific reason. I was, however, happy because I spent wonderful hours with my son.

November 11: Pocky's Day

My daughter told me that November 11th  is Pocky's Day.
Have you ever heard of the word Pocky's Day?

I am going to talk about what her classmates including her did on the day, but first, let me explain Pocky because I think that tons of people do not know what Pocky is.

Pocky is a stick-like biscuit with its two-thirds coated with chocolate. No doubt that Pocky is popular among kids in Japan. Grown-ups also like it because it is various regarding the chocolate taste; some have bitter-taste chocolate, which is my thing since it goes well with beer as well as wine.

November 11th is named Pocky's Day because of the similarity of their shapes; 1111 likes like four sticks of Pocky. I do not completely agree with the way to coin, but anyway, the day is likely to be accepted among teenagers.

Aside from the naming, what impressed me is a surprise performance by all peers in the class of her middle school on Pocky's day. It seems like that they stood up suddenly during society class, did a one-minute dance of Pocky (which is also known in Japan), and sit down as if nothing had happened.

I feel sorry for the teacher. If I were in the position, it is hard to say about my response to their unexpected dance. I would freak out because I would think how badly they teased me. Another surprising me is that the teacher showed nothing after the performance and continued the class as usual. On top of that, my daughter said that her classmates did nothing special after that, either.

I am not sure which response is intuitive, e.g., bursting into laughter, just smile, angry, ignorance. Anyway, to me, both look cool on the Pocky's day.

This event will remind me of their surprise performance whenever I eat Pokcy.

I like GIF but dislike GIF

Today's title includes two GIFs.
You know what I am getting at?

The former GIF is a style of imaging, and the latter GIF stands for gastrointestinal fiber, one of medical procedures. The other day, I underwent GIF in my hospital.

I have been asymptomatic about the stomach, but it is a rule for the employees of my hospital to have an annual checkup including GIF once they turn 40 years of age.

Before the GIF, I was given a cold candy, which was kind of a medical drug to make the throat numb enough to swallow the fiber without difficulty. I have to admit that the non-tasty candy worked to some extent, but the procedure was not smooth.

One good thing about the medical device is that it enabled me to see my stomach, as shown in the picture above. The surface of my stomach was almost the same as I would have expected, hoping for good health. I have some knowledge about the stomach since I have seen a lot of my patients receiving GIF in my hospital, although I am not a gastroenterologist (but a cardiologist).

Anyway, I am happy with the GIF because the results were undoubtedly OK. What is more, according to my colleague who performed the GIF, it seems like that I do not need to undergo GIF at least for a few years to come.