Monday September 17, 2007 - Back from Boston
Current mood: busy
Category: Life

I'm back from my Boston visit and it was absolutely wonderful to see Jennifer and the puppies.  We had a blast just spending some quality time together.  Time truly flew by this past weekend.

It's been a whole lot easier now that I'm living so close to Boston.  We made it this far, after my two years of Caribbean living - we were only apart in distance but never in heart! - I'm able to plan monthly visits and it's awesome!

Jen's been traveling a lot for her work (she's a VP for Bank of America) so we're kinda sad for the puppies (gotta kennel them eventually) but we're hoping that this traveling gig ends in a few weeks.  Besides, we have a friend who's been watching the puppies for now while Jen's away and at least the dogs are at home.

I'll be back in Boston for my cousin's wedding.  I'm playing guitar and singing at the services so that should be fun.  Speaking of music, I joined a local choir in Bay Ridge and it's been just swell getting back to the music.  I actually contacted one of my best friends from college (he's an unbelievable bass player) and I'm hoping to get into a band to play the music scene around here.  Lots of opportunities to jam with some really cool venues with professional set ups.  Can't wait to gig it up again...it's always a great release when you find the right teammates to jam with!

Anyway, the fitness scene is going well.  I'm at 175 lbs. now and dropping weight more steadily.  My next goal is to hit 169 lbs. in 3 weeks.  Then it's off to the fat loss races as my progress tends to accelerate later in the game (I'm a slow starter and middle-to-late finisher.)

Yes, my friends, the abs will be seen again.  Soon.

Till then, stay strong and be well!

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Sunday September 2, 2007 - Back on the fitness wagon...again.
Current mood: determined
Category: Life

I've noticed a pattern in my life regarding my fitness levels.  It's a rather predictable pattern.  It goes something like this:

In shape

Out of shape

In shape

Out of shape

In shape

The funny thing is this...the "In shape" part hasn't happened in quite a while now.  The pattern I've been experiencing has been more like this:

Out of shape

In shape

Out of shape

More out of shape

Extremely out of shape

Hopelessly out of shape

All right, all right, it's not really THAT bad.  There's never hopelessness either.  There's always room for change and improvement.  It's simply easier to make excuses and continue being slothful.  But this has changed.

I've been going to the gym and cleaning up my diet ever since I've moved here to Brooklyn (new environments tend to stimulate me to get back to basics and make life changes in the physique department).

In fact, the last time I made a big move - remember August 2005...Grenada? - I stuck with a fitness plan and lost 17 lbs. and felt great!  But then, it all fell apart because I got comfortable and then I let stress get the better of me, and then the excuses piled up and so did the fat n' flab.

Well, here I am on a new journey.  A new place.  Another change for the better and the results are coming - albeit somewhat slower than earlier years.  I'm 10 lbs. lighter and I'm focused on losing smaller chunks along the way.  My first goal was to get to sub-180 lbs. (about 6 weeks ago I was upwards of 192 lbs.!) and I am currently hovering at 178 lbs. to 179 lbs. 

My next goal is to get to sub-175 lbs.  Then sub-170 lbs.  And so on and so forth.  Small steps.  Little chunks.  Great success in time.

My training is coming along slowly as well.  My strength is returning much faster than it did after the Kaplan course so that's definitely a plus.  I just have to schedule more intense cardio sessions in the mix to maximize the fat burning process overall.  I've hit the recumbent bike a couple of times (for 16 minutes at Level 4 and 5 respectively, going between 2.70 miles and 2.90 miles)...gotta keep trying to outdo subsequent sessions and maintain that gusto and fervor for maximal results (calorie burning, muscle retaining, fat loss).

I'm up for the challenge...after all, I'm getting married in less than a year so I better get back to my lean-elite self like I know that I can!  :D

Time to climb.

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Saturday September 1, 2007 - Clinical Rotations and 3rd Year Medical School
Current mood: content
Category: School, College, Greek

First of all, for all of you who read and emailed me regarding my engagement story - I thank you for the well wishes and kind congrats.  I'm still a bit giddy about getting engaged and it's another step - albeit a rather significant one - along my life's journey.

Speaking of life's journey, I am currently at the commencement of my 3rd year of medical school and I've begun my clinical rotations at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.  My schedule looks thusly:

OB/Gyn (6 wks)

Family Practice (6 wks)

Internal Medicine (12 wks)

Surgery (12 wks)

Pediatrics (6 wks)

Psychiatry (6 wks)

This third year is going to FLY by so I'm gonna do my best to enjoy every moment.  So far, I've learned and experienced a ton in only two weeks.  I started in the operating room and had the opportunity to "scrub in" (like a surgeon!) and assist with a bunch of procedures.  My role is mostly one of support (holding/cutting sutures, holding/positioning retractors/clamps, etc.) but yesterday I actually placed my first Foley catheter - with the guidance and help of one of the Chief Residents!

I've seen a variety of procedures including dilatation/curettage, hysterectomy, cystocele repair, laparoscopic myomectomy, and a couple of C-sections.  Very exciting!

Next week I'm working in the Labor & Delivery ward so I'll be expecting to help deliver a good number of babies.  What a cool thing it is to bring new life into this world.

All righty, I'll be back on blogging now that I've settled into my new apartment (a mere 2 blocks from Lutheran!).  Thanks for your patience.

P.S. I've lost 10 lbs. since cleaning up my diet and going to the gym.  Only 25 more lbs. to go...

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Thursday August 9, 2007 - I’m getting married!
Current mood: jubilant
Category: Life

Yes, my friends, you read that right!

Jennifer and I are officially engaged to be married!  I must say that in my excitement I have already written TWO lengthy blogs about the details of our engagement but each time I have accidentally DELETED them just before publishing them!  AUGH! 

Note to self: I gotta slow down and save each entry as I go...

Anyway, for the past hour I have been writing down what happened yesterday and this is my THIRD attempt...wish me luck! 

Well, to give some background, Jennifer and I have been together for a while now.  Oh, about 7 years, 6 months, and 19 days or something like that - I'm a bit date-crazy if you can tell.  With that in mind, I decided to ask her to marry me exactly one year from our proposed marriage date.  We had chatted about the possibility of getting married on 08/08/08 since it's such a unique date.  A once-in-a-lifetime date.  So, since Jennifer is someone I feel so lucky to have found in my lifetime, I thought I'd go for it!

Jennifer is more of a private person, so I realized that my engagement plan would have to be more personal and involve only our "family" - so no big public displays would be necessary.  Our "family" includes her two 'puppies' - Dallas, an Australian shepard/Lab mix, is the alpha female matriarch at 12 years young; and Bailey is our "little girl" - 10 year old black lab.

I knew that Jennifer had a workout scheduled after work so I had some time to get things prepared with the girls!

Here's how it went down yesterday (08/08/07):

While Jennifer was away, I called her mother to ask for her daughter's hand in marriage.  (Yes, I'm getting more old-fashioned in my old age.)  Once she gave me her blessing, it was all systems go!

Once Jennifer got back from her vigorous workout, I knew she'd take a shower before dinner.  While she was busy, I took a few doggie treats and some pieces of marinated steak, and "convinced" the puppies to don my special pre-made, handwritten, home-grown, T-shirts:

Each T-shirt had yesterday's date on the front, and the words, "Will U" on one side, and "Marry Mel?" on the other.  Dallas (left) is rather skittish with clothing and was ready to pounce out of the shirt at anytime, whilst Bailey (right) just wanted to lie down and get cuddly.

It took a couple of bones each, PLUS steak to get them perfectly poised once Jennifer came downstairs!

Once she did, she saw the messages, and a huge smile appeared on her face.

I sat her down, professed my love for her, and on bended knee I gave her this ring:

And asked her those four special words, "Will You Marry Me?"

She said, "Yes!" and I placed the ring on her finger and our new future was born!

We are planning on a Hawaii wedding on 08/08/08.  Dreams do come true!

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Wednesday July 4, 2007 - Almost finished
Current mood: busy
Category: School, College, Greek

Wow!  It's already the 4th of July and I am less than a week away from finishing this program.  The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of work.  Lots and lots of class hours - in fact, we had 9 straight days of mostly 8 AM till 5 PM class days and then studying at night.  Pretty crazy schedule.

I've been fortunate to have met some really cool people here.  My study group comprises a doctor from Paraguay and a doctor from the Philippines.  Both of these guys finished got their M.D.'s at Guadalajara (Mexico) and University of Santo Tomas (Philippines) respectively.  Alex is the Paraguayan and Darren is my new Filipino brother.  We have a great time studying because we're able to balance the stress of reviewing this voluminous load of material with some downtime like throwing the football outside or going to dinner at the hotel restaurant downstairs. 

I do miss the comforts of home though.  I can't wait to see Jennifer and the puppies again.  It's been nearly 6 weeks of straight-up review and studying and I need to be sane again soon.  Soon, very soon.

Hmm, I actually forgot to mention that Jennifer and I celebrated our 7-year, 5-month Anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  Shame on me for not blogging about that!  I'll be en pointe next time!

All righty, back to the books.

Oh, one last note.  Fitness-wise, I'm feeling much stronger and looking a bit shapelier in the muscular department.  Unfortunately, my body weight seems to have upped a bit (I'm 192 lbs. now!!).  This sometimes happens as I'm a very efficient weight-gainer.  This heavy training has made me look leaner and in better shape although my lean body mass and overall body weight are increasing.

Once my cardio training kicks in (I just started doing intense sprints on the local track) and after I really clean up my diet even moreso than now, well, that'll be when the pounds of fat get stripped off significantly.

Still climbin'!

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Wednesday June 20, 2007 - Respite
Current mood: awake
Category: School, College, Greek

Wow, we are already halfway through this intense Kaplan Prep Retreat and we finally have a bit of a break ahead.  The next three days are class-free days and I am looking forward to getting caught up with some of the work from previous weeks not to mention getting some much needed re-charge and rest time.

This past week we had a fantastic lecturer for Immuno and Micro and I really enjoyed seeing how Immunology fits into the broader scheme of medicine.  I always harbored a bit of fear and trepidation when trying to understand how our immune system worked (you know, all those foreign sounding components like CD4, LFA, TNF, IgG, etc.) and after our lectures and Assessment Exam I felt like I finally could see things "click" and fit together.

Microbiology was still a beast to get through (so many BUGS!!!) but it was straight-forward and our Professor was entertaining us with some memorable mnemonics. 

Indeed, this experience has been very rewarding and refreshing thus far and I am more than pleased...nay, I am extremely happy to be here and learning how to fit all this stuff together.

Tomorrow, is Jennifer and my 7-year, 5-month Anniversary together and yes, I am planning on sending her a card as always.  Sappy am I?  You betcha!

My training program is still going strong.  I trained legs today and have gotten my squat up to 155 lbs. for reps.  Yeah, so I'm still about 100 lbs. away from my max squat but I'll get there!  Leg press was HEAVY for me...I did ten 45 lb. plates total on the machine (approximately 495 lbs. which includes the weight of the actual machine - it's a reclining leg press).  Again, it's still a ways off from the 16 total 45 lbs. plates but I'm not rushing to set any records here!

Okie dokie, I'm about to take the rest of the night off and watch a movie.  Stay strong and be well!

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Wednesday June 13, 2007 - Fake people
Current mood: mellow
Category: Life

Sometimes I wonder how naive I must be.  Throughout my life, I've tried hard to be real and true to the people around me and I guess that I sorta expect the same from others.

Well, there are some folks in this world of ours who are "fake" and simply "users" and often clueless about their own self-absorbed limitations.

I've been lucky to have surrounded myself with good people.  Caring people.  Spiritual people.  Real people.  Real in the sense that these folks act true, speak true, mean what they say and do what they commit to doing.

But every so often I meet people who, at first, look and act like they're kind, caring, and true...but end up being unkind, uncaring, and fakers.

I'd like to steer clear from them.  It's a tough balance though...trying to discern how much to give to others, how much to trust, and how to recover when others turn on you or end up being less-than-trustful...or even downright cold and mean.

It perplexes the soul at times.

But that's how we grow.  Indeed, after the past couple of weeks, I've done a lot of growing.

An excerpt that I found that speaks volumes (I believe that it is a version/modification of a poem by Flavia Weedn entitled, "Some People")

Some people come into our lives and quickly go; others stay awhile and leave footprints on our hearts.  For the ones that leave the footprints, they could have left in good faith or left simply because they were not true in heart.  They leave not only in body but also in spirit and emotions... sadly because they were weak and unable to endure little trials in life or have the patience to hold on.  What mattered to them more was their own self indulgences.  Nevertheless....they have left footprints on our hearts... footprints to maybe remain for life....and for this.... we are never the same.

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Thursday June 7, 2007 - 9 days down, 1 week in
Current mood: drained
Category: Life

So it's been 9 days since I've started my USMLE Step 1 preparation with good ol' Kaplan and, well, to call it intense doesn't quite put it into context through this blog.  It's been a rather rigorously mind-bending experience...mind-bending in the non-hallucinogenic sense of course.

We finished all of Physiology today after five full days and it's going to take me a bit of time to 'digest' (punny, yes?) all this material.  Next up is Biochemistry and that'll be another story to tell...

I am also 1 week in with my personal fitness re-focus program and it's going fantastically! 

Here's today's workout: (My current bodyweight is 185 lbs.; estimated body fat is ~26%)

Chest / Abs

Incline Barbell press: 95 lbs. x 8 reps; 105x6

Incline Dumbbell press: 60x6, 60x6

Machine Incline press: 145x5, 125x5

Dips (counterweight-assisted): Bwt-40x6, Bwt-40x6

Swiss ball crunches: 12x2x2

Ab bench crunches: Bwtx25x2

Okay, I know I am not setting any lifting records here but it's a start nonetheless.  Five years ago with this exact same workout it looked more like this:

===========================

Mel Ona Circa August 2002 - Bodyweight 142 lbs.; 7-9% bodyfat measured by underwater weighing and air displacement plethysmography

Incline Dumbbell press: 80 lbs. x 6, 85 lbs. x 6

Incline Barbell press: 165x6, 175x5

Dips (Weight ADDED): Bwt+45x6x2

===========================

Yeah, I have a ways to go but I'm committed to getting there.  The journey's just begun, folks, and I'm not gettin' off this wagon!

Stay tuned for more news...

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Wednesday June 6, 2007 - Building momentum
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Life

So I've decided to get off my hippo-butt and start working out again.  I joined a local gym down the road from our hotel and it's a great place to train.  It's got all the necessities for building one's body - lots of free weights, machines, cardio equipment, etc.

I started my fitness program last week and boy, I tell you, my body has been CRAZY SORE to say the very least.  Here's the workout breakdown:

Day 1: Chest/Abs

Day 2: Back

Day 3: Shoulders/Abs

Day 4: Arms

Day 5: Legs/Abs

I'm following the tried and true Max-OT workout principles and I am confident that my body will respond quickly.  The hardest part of any fitness program is getting started...and after oh, about 1 year of not training, I have finally arrived - at the starting point.  Again!

Well, it's never too late to get off one's hippo-butt and get moving.  I trained legs yesterday and now I am feeling the effects of those barbell squats and leg press (read: trouble moving my hippo-butt into and out of seats).  In time, this pain shall pass.

My goal is to lose at least 10 pounds of excess fat from my hippo-butt (as well as my sumo-belly) before I finish my USMLE Review course (we're done on July 9th).  That's about 5 weeks from now and my goal has been visualized and internalized.  Time to EXECUTE it now.

The training regimen is set...next up I will chat about NUTRITION.  But that's for another blog entry since I must get back to class soon!

Till then, keep striving and thriving!

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Monday June 4, 2007 - Studying for the big one...
Current mood: calm
Category: School, College, Greek

Yeah, yeah, I know.  I had planned on updating my blog on a more consistent basis (read: daily), however, I got lazy.  Plain and simple.

Lemme see now - where to start?!

I am currently at the Holiday Inn Select - Wilmington in Claymont, Delaware.  Yes, it's that Wilmington, DE where you're sending all your credit card bills/statements!  Why am I here you might inquire?

Kaplan!  Ah yes, that bastion of standardized test review courses...I have enrolled in the Kaplan Prep Retreat course for the USMLE Step 1 exam.  For those of you who don't know what the USMLE is, it stands for the United States Medical Licensing Examination.  I gotta do well on this exam so that I can continue on with my third and fourth years of medical school, get a good residency program and progress onward with my medical journey.

The course is going well thus far.  There are about 129 students and the neat thing is that the majority of us are SGU students!  We'll be staying at this hotel for the next 5 weeks and it has been very intense preparation to say the least. 

Our schedule comprises 8 hours of class per day (with a bunch of assessment exams along the way) covering topics that we experienced throughout our two years in medical school (basic sciences years) - Behavioral Science (Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Ethics, etc.), Biochemistry, Physiology, Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology, Anatomy, Pharmacology, Genetics...etc.  So my days (and nights) have been packed with activity and mental focus.

Classes go from 8AM until 5PM and then I hit the gym (more about that in subsequent blogging...I promise!), get some dinner, and then sit down to do questions and review the day's material.  Before I know it, it's time for bed and then I get up early to do it all over again.  We're building our stamina and gaining steam for the real deal...the USMLE is no joke and it's a draining experience.  The exam itself is unlike any other exam I have ever taken: 350 questions (7 blocks of 50 questions each); 1 hour per section; and 4th order type of questions to boot.  Putting in the work now will certainly pay dividends later...

Well, I will continue to keep updating this blog as soon as I get entrenched in my schedule (which is pretty much set up now). 

Let's just say that the regimen and structure are KEYS for me to succeed.  Now, if I can only try and clean up my eating habits a little bit more...

7:36 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment