April 2002 Vol. 2 Issue 6
An Internet Newsletter publication of the American Society of CIM Alumni, Inc.
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April 2002 Vol. 2 Issue 6 |
An Internet Newsletter publication of the American Society of CIM Alumni, Inc. | |
THE ASOCIMAI OFFICERS: Dominador Ong, M.D. Board Members: Horace Cabasares, M.D. CME Chairperson: BRAIN WAVES STAFF: Editorial Board: Maida Antigua, M.D. Editor and Technical Adviser: Staff Correspondents: This is our newsletter. So please don't be shy to send any alumni news, articles, pictures, announcement, family achievement, graduation, baby birth, obituary, etc., to: clems3ra@rcn.com | Editor's Column"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires …..courage." - Ralph Waldo Emerson HOPE and CHALLENGE
Negative thoughts would upset your balance and impair your judgment. With them, you cannot extract even a minimum advantage from a big opportunity that arises, let alone from something that you are unable to see any advantage that can be taken. When your expectations are not met, it's easy to look for excuses and justifications to quit rather than to hang on to what's left of your hope and resolve to go on. How many times have you found yourself, after failing to achieve something, saying, "I just don't have the time. Or I'm too old for this. Or I've got more important things to do, etc." And yet you've started it but found it easy to stop rather than to struggle a little more. Nothing worth anything in life comes easily. When failing becomes a failure Intelligence vs. Diligence; Talent vs. Hard Work |
Because we think we are old or getting old, that doesn't mean we are sentenced to learn no new tricks for the rest of our life. We simply have to understand our true priorities in life and focus on one endeavor at a time. We are medical doctors, for crying out loud! And so the question of intelligence is definitely irrelevant. One has got to have brains to become a doctor. Even if we did once make a really bad decision on something we dared doing, we are not fated to continue the same path forever. Many people suffer regret over things they didn't do than over the things they did mistakenly. Thus if we just continue on the same path, limit ourselves on medical knowledge, afraid to take risks on learning new tricks, or on new endeavor lest we stumble, we are likely to end up with some serious regrets over the roads not taken. For the world is constantly changing. Doing nothing at all could turn out to be a lot riskier than trying something new and different especially in the field of technology. How many times you've heard someone or yourself sighing over this most useless phrase in the English language, "If only I had......" In the beginning.... All our choices are gambles. We try to calculate the odds and go with the decision that offers the best chance of success. But sometimes we go against the odds. That's called, hope. So we were hoping that by giving everyone nothing but our best, sooner or later, they'd convince themselves to join with us and make our alumni e-mail community grow into something to be reckoned with. We were also hoping that sooner or later, there would be those few bold ones among us who would participate in writing something or becoming a correspondent of our newsletter. Have our hopes been materialized yet? What do you think? Our community started with a little less than 50 members, and now, in just a matter of five months, we have grown to almost 240 members counting husband and wife with the same address as two, beyond our wildest expectation. But then again, we've learned to expect the worst and hope for the best. And our hope seems to materialize more and more than our expectation. We also have almost 200 non-alumni or non-physicians in our community. Don't you just love it? But whether you are a CIM alumnus or not, as long as you are in our community, if you want to participate, please don't hesitate to share what you know or any information you have that may benefit others in our community. If you have some comments and even criticism about our newsletter, go for the jugular as the saying goes if you want to. Give us whatever you've got, and we'll take it however we can. Keeping us all together That's why we have never stopped, nor will we ever stop trying to reach and persuade everyone to join with us. We cannot afford to ignore anyone. For to us, everyone is important. One may only be the smallest number, but like small clouds when they gather together, they become thunder. We don't expect to be able to persuade everyone because if we do and we are not able to, our tactic of persuasion would only easily become an exercise in frustration. When our tactic doesn't work, we simply remind ourselves what an anonymous author wrote: Our Alumni reunion and what it is meant to be We, the officers and board members of our association new administration, believe that our alumni reunion is meant to be a tool for putting aside or forgetting past misgivings and misunderstanding to achieve harmony, unity and sanity for our association, not a means to recall and remind us of our past discords, disputes and differences that would only divide us into groups of disgruntled and disdainful highly professional men and women. It is meant to be an occasion of knowing each other better through respect and regard for each other, not an event to display and vent our dismay, dissension or dissatisfaction that would unwittingly allow reflex to triumph over reason. It is meant to be a celebration of the complete removal of all our emotional scars, if any, through the renewal of friendship and fellowship. It is meant to be an affair when we should bow gracefully to whatever the majority decide for the good of our association, not an event of justification for turning our disappointment into resentment that we would nurture for years to come, making our every reunion not an affair to remember and look forward to, but an affair to forget and avoid. It is meant to be an opportunity for learning to accept each other as human beings with different style, taste, grace and opinions, instead of as competitors we should be suspicious of, or opponents to guard against, or individuals to sneer, smear or snob. Our reunion is meant to pass as a pleasant memory that even in our olden days would make us recall each other's smiles and laughter, or make us recollect snatches of our pleasant conversation, not a painful episode that would make us continue to tally up every wrong we thought was done to us and every privilege or pleasure we thought we were denied, nailing us to the past, forever feeling cheated, fooled or victimized.
Needless to say, we are all getting old. One day we will be looking back at our life and see what kind of tracks we've left behind; the fun, friendship and fellowship we had, and hopefully, with all the cooperation and participation we give to our association, we can say to ourselves: "It was damn worth it!" So let us all come to our reunion and make it joyous. Let's enjoy and be grateful for the time we'll be together. After all, we rarely, if ever, are in contact with each other during the time when we are apart. Please do seriously consider that the joy in our reunion is going to be reduced or diminished by your absence. - Clem
The New Members: Dolores Lao, M.D. Class 1964 From Class 1974: New members, welcome. We are happy to have you in our alumni e-mail community. This is a unique community where for you, hopes are not an issue, dreams don't come true, and your wants and wishes are something we cannot help you with. But we'll try to provide you with knowledge and information, humor and jokes, ideas and philosophy to help you rearrange your thoughts and modify your hopes and dreams or moderate your wants and wishes into something that could make your life more relaxing and perhaps interesting. However, whatever you've learned from reading our newsletter, we don't guarantee that your life would change for the better. You're the only one who can do that. We're only doing something like what the missionaries are doing. We share and give you light, and then leave you alone so you can use it. Now would you be interested in deep thoughts or in some form of intellectual exercise? Most if not all issues of our newsletter have insights and articles with philosophical or unconventional ideas that may make you think deep you've never used to before, or simply make you shake your head in wonderment. Would you be interested in learning something about science and technology? Some of the issues of our newsletter provide that too, to keep readers up with the rapid changes that science and technology are bringing to our world today. Would you be interested in being tickled? We say, "being tickled," because we are honest enough to tell you that we cannot guarantee our humor and jokes would make you laugh particularly if you are not the laughing kind. Hopefully, they'll at least make you smile. Would you be interested in being informed and updated on our alumni association and its activities? Then don't just read the current issue and wait for the coming ones. Go back and read the previous issues by clicking on the cropped baby picture at the bottom of this web page that is labeled Back. Finally, would you be interested in exercising your writing skill? Go ahead, write something, anything you can think of, imagine or fantasize, and send it to Brain Waves and we'll share it with everyone. Like I said, give it your best and ignore the rest. No matter what your age or condition, there are always untapped possibilities within you, and a new beauty waiting to be born. Please, just for once in your life, listen to me. Please don't subject that beauty to an abortion. Allow it to develop, grow and see the light of day. - Clem
Another designer gene comes to life CONGRATULATIONS to both parents and grandparents of Tejan Bronson Garel. The vanguard of an industrial revolution is usually made up of men and women in white lab coats; inventors and engineers; physicists; dreamers and crackpots; tinkerers and independent thinkers who have the passion and focus to pursue an idea and by doing so, change the world. This was true for engineers who invented the first steam engine and put it to industrial use. The result was the industrial revolution. But recently it's the gene technological revolution that has already started to reshape the major industries. Remember the movie Jurassic Park? It told the story of a scientist who succeeded in cloning dinosaurs from genetic information found in the bodies of prehistoric parasites preserved in amber. This was science fiction, of course. Yet if you notice, science fiction is often only a step ahead of reality. As a matter of fact, many of the cloning techniques used by fictional movie scientist had already become standard for cloning bacteria. A scientist has already cloned a common E. coli bacteria with spider genes to produce arachnid silk in industrial quantities. Arachnid silk is stronger than nylon, rubber, and even high-tensile silk and could be used in body armor, to reinforce compound materials such as those used in race cars, or in the medical industry. Genetic cloning can also teach millennia-old bacteria completely new tricks. Microbiologist Shil DasSarma of the University of Massachusetts and his graduate students John Hallady and Wai-Lap Ng have taught Jurassic Park bacteria how to float. Dr. DasSarma had discovered and isolated a package of 13 genes in a bacterium, called Halobacterium halobium. The genetic information contained in these genes causes the organism to develop gas vesicles. These vesicles are tiny, gas-filled balloons that allow the bacteria to float. These floating bacteria can then obtain the most sun energy required for proliferation. Obviously these bacteria are a huge boon to fermentation process, and they have already made fermentation much cheaper because it is far easier to skim the cells off the surface than to filter or centrifuge them out. But their most important application has been on the biological as opposed to chemical treatment of waste products. Their gene is being used in oil-eating bacteria. Oil-eating bacteria rely on the carbon in the oil for nourishment. But once all of the spilled oil is digested, the bacteria die off from lack of food. Forms of these bacteria occur naturally, flourishing in areas of oil spills. Some strains are already enlisted in minor clean-up efforts. They are fertilized with a combination of nitrogen and phosphorous in order to encourage their growth. The problem, however, is that the bacteria sink and then die because the food they need like the oil is on the surface, not at the bottom. As a result, their population must be continually renewed by frequent applications of the fertilizers and the new bacteria. This is costly and time-consuming particularly in the use of widespread oil spills. But splicing in Halobacterium's gas vesicles would teach these organisms to stay afloat on the polluted surface. These bacteria could then dine on oil or other contaminants much longer and more efficiently, lowering the cost of the clean up in the process. (Stay tune for more in the next issue.) Most if not all of us no longer have babies of our own, but some of us may already have grandbabies or soon will have some. As we all know, it's not fun to take baby's temperature when they are sick, not even to the babies themselves. But Philips Electronics has come up with a traditional-looking pacifier that has a digital medical thermometer built in. Just pop it into baby's mouth and wait for the beep that signals the temperature in accurate. It costs about $15. The Baby Thermometer Kit is available by calling 1-800-531-0039. GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED: GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED: GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD: A woman visited an art gallery. One picture was bright blue with vivid orange swirls while the one next to it was black with lime green blobs. The artist was standing nearby so she said to him: "I'm sorry, but I don't understand your paintings." An elderly man and a Baptist minister were sitting next to each other on a plane. Since the flight had been delayed, the pilot announced that once they were airborne, free drinks would be brought round to the passengers by way of an apology. In the backwoods of Canada in a shack with no electricity, a man's wife went into labor in the middle of the night. The local doctor was fetched to help with the delivery. The doctor gave the nervous father-to-be a lantern to hold, partly to keep him occupied and partly so that he could see what he was doing. A wife bought a whole range of cosmetics designed to knock years off her age. After five hours applying the various creams and potions, she asked her husband: "Tell me honestly, darling, what age do you think I look?" You know how you can tell whether a woman's had her face lifted? Every time she crosses her legs, her mouth snaps open. - Joan Rivers One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. YOU ARE PRECIOUS AND HONORED IN MY SIGHT." - ISAIAH 43:4 Love must start at home before it can go abroad. We must be able to look in the mirror and say, "God, You did a good job." Otherwise,
we'll settle for anyone who gives us whatever we're incapable of giving ourselves. I'm not advocating arrogance, but rather a healthy balance somewhere between martyrdom and narcissism. Until you find that balance, everyone else's need will be more important than your own. If that happens, you'll end up resentful, because you'll go through life without your needs being met because you don't have enough self-respect to ask for them to be met - because you don't think you're worthy. If you don't believe in yourself and respect your own opinions, you'll end up living by someone else's. One wrong look from them
will melt you and one critical word will make you say, "I'll never wear that outfit again." Vulnerability is good, but not when it comes from insecurity. No one will truly appreciate and respect you until they begin to see you as settled and established. First others have to hear you sing your own song before they can hum along. When they start, let them - just make sure they're in harmony when they do. In a real sense, we train others how to treat us by how we treat ourselves. Go to God's Word today and listen as God tells you who you are and what you're worth: ". . . you are precious and honored in my sight . . ." - An e-mail from a friend. Is this a rabbit or a duck? Why? Prove. Send your answer to CIM Brain Waves. A case of hydrophobia? The editor in particular would like to express his great appreciation to the following alumni: A special thank to the following alumni: All the above alumni willingly and enthusiastically provided us the list of their classmates with their corresponding home and e-mail addresses vital to our membership recruitment for our community and our association. Gentlemen and lady, you just don't know how happy and grateful I have been in particular with your help. It's hard for me to imagine getting this far without it. It makes me feel so lucky to have colleagues and friends like you. It may only be a little thing to you but it means so much to me. Certainly, our association is grateful for your help. Just imagine planting vegetables without fertilizer. No matter how much you tend your garden, the growth of your vegetables would never be as fast as when they are being fertilized, and you'd be lucky if the produce is even half as much. You provided us that fertilizer. Our association has added more blooms and our alumni e-mail community has grown a lot faster. Thanks a whole lot. MAIDA, HAVE A GOOD TIME IN AUSTRALIA! -From your fellow officers and board members.
When we started our newsletter, we were told by some that a newsletter for our association would have been done long time ago if not for alumni's lack of participation. So an association's newsletter was an idea whose time did not come. It withered and died at its root. It was never given a chance to sprout. Suffice it to say, some were skeptical as to whether we could go on long enough to be able to spark and ignite everyone's interest and motivation to join with us and make our alumni e-mail community a reality. Indeed we had our own skepticism too. The only difference is that, we haven't been driven by the thought of making an impression but by the idea of sharing knowledge and information; nor were we motivated by the dream of prestige but by the desire to make a difference. Thus our attitude has been to do our best and ignore the rest.
We, the officers and board members of our association, want nothing more than harmony and unity of our association, and thus we have tried and will continue to try to promote them. We saw our association's potential and so we grab every opportunity to make what is potential, real. Coming from a country that is rich in culture, strong in religious beliefs and whose parents valued and put education and strong family relationship as the number one priority, each of us is special. And since we are all professionals with all kinds of different specialty, each of us is unique. Thus it's not hard to imagine that together, our association is exceptional for all its potentials, having diverse professional medical specialties; phenomenal for its cultural and religious harmony; and spectacular for its capacity to promote compassion and charity.
The optimist fell ten stories.
At each window bar
He shouted to his friends:
"All right so far!""
If somehow you're one of those who were disappointed or disenchanted with our association in the past, but deep within you, you still long for the close encounter of your own kind, the company of your classmates and colleagues and the pleasure of their fellowship and camaraderie, give yourself another chance. Burn the bridges behind you and then come to Potomac bridge and then to Washington, D.C. for our alumni reunion in July 10-14 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. You'll be surprised to know that your classmates, colleagues and friends are excited and thrilled to see you. We would not even attempt to entice you with the opportunity of sitting next to Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson, nor tantalize your taste buds and provoke your salivary glands with the delicious food in Chinatown just three blocks from the hotel. If anything, the prospect of being together with your own kind and have some fun, should be enough to make you reach your wallet, take out your credit card and call for your hotel room reservation. After you make that call, please don't forget to request for your seating preference for the Grand Ball. WELCOME !
Edward Suico, M.D. Class 1972
Vivien Suico, M.D. Class 1972
Eusebio Tochip, M.D. Class 1972
Ben Buslon, M.D.
Lydia Barcenilla, M.D.
Lilian Capacio, M.D.
Rolando de la Cruz, M.D.
Yolanda de la Cruz, M.D.
Jesse Logronio, M.D.
Domingo Maxifilonilo, M.D.
Ruperto Mayuga, M.D.
Emma Salazar, M.D.
Nenito Uy, M.D.Wonderful News
Do you remember Joanna Bacalso? No? How could you forget so easily? Shame on you. Okay, Okay, Mr. Alzheimer just touched you and he went away. Now you're talking. Yeah, she is the beautiful star in the Disney movie Snow Dogs with Cuba Gooding Jr. Well, she is also the daughter of our own fellow alumni Kidday Bacalso of the Class 1971. Joanna is also a goddaughter of our dedicated and determined no-nonsense vice-president Maida Antigua of the class 1971.
"Hold on a minute. What's this all about?"
"Well, Joanna just had a big baby boy weighing 8 lbs 4 oz. So what does that make Kidday?"
"An Aunt!"
"No, stupid!. A grandma! Mr. Alzheimer must have touched you again. The baby will be baptized on April 21 with the name of Tejan Bronson Garel."
"Wait a minute. Why not Charles Bronson, my favorite action-hero actor in the 70s?"
"I don't know. Go ask Kidday and Joanna."
"Now, what is it this time?"
"Ahhh....how can Kidday get so lucky? She has now three grandkids to spoil, while I don't have any. It isn't fair, is it?"
"That, I can agree with you. Kidday is definitely one of those lucky parents who become grandparents young enough to be able to participate with their grandchildren's growth and maturity. They also have a pretty good chance of being able to see their grandkids getting married one day and have kids of their own. You and I are not as lucky. I guess our children belong to a generation called Baby Busters. Kids in this generation choose not to have kids. They say that they want to be free as if having children of their own means slavery. Or, may be they just want us, their parents, to have full retirement first so we can take care of their babies full time. You don't mind, do you? At least there is a baby to look forward to and play with when we retire. Let's cross our fingers."
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Thoughts to Ponder
1. No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2. When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3. If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4. Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5. You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6. Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7. Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8. You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9. Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10. The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
1. Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2. Wrinkles don't hurt.
3. Families are like fudge . . . mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4. Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5. Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6. Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the joy.
1. Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2. Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3. When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4. You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5. It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6. Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7. Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. ***********************************
He replied loftily: "I paint what I feel inside me."
The woman said: "Have you tried Alka-Seltzer?"****************************
Ten minutes after take-off, the pretty young flight attendant came round with the drinks trolley. The old man requested a whiskey and soda. "And what would you like?" the attendant asked the Baptist minister.
"No, no," he roared. "I would rather commit adultery than drink alcohol!"
The old man looked confused and, handing his drink back to the attendant, said: "Sorry, I didn't know there was a choice…" *****************************
After a few minutes, a baby boy was born and the husband put down the lantern to hold him.
"Don't put that lantern down just yet," said the doctor. "I think there's another one on the way."
Shortly afterwards, a baby daughter was born and the husband put down the lantern to hold her.
"Don't put that lantern down yet," said the doctor. "I think there may be another one still to come."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, another baby girl was born. The father scratched his head and said to the doctor: "Do you think it's the light that's attracting them?" ******************************
He said: "From your skin - 21; from your hair - 18; from your figure - 23."
"Oh, you flatterer," she gushed.
"Wait a minute," he said, "I haven't added them up yet."***************************
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So the farmer invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.
With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!
Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on us, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is either a stepping stone or a stumbling block. We can perceive our troubles as dirt piled on us or provided to us as a means of stepping up. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up! - Unknown Author. ******************************
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A Puzzle, Anyone?
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Is there something wrong with this picture? Is this the way to win the war against Abu Sayef? I believe though that this general or commanding officer of the Philippine military is showing the world that the Philippine government is definitely poor and is only providing one pair of boots for everyone in the military. Thus he doesn't want to ruin his boots with salt water. Otherwise he'll have to wear bakya to fight against Abu Sayef's group of terrorists. Well, what do you think? Come on. Share your thought and send it to CIM Brain Waves. After all, if our Philippine military is having a hard time winning against a group of religious extremists who are totally outnumbered 50 or even a hundred to one, then we might as well have some fun.*************************
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and APPRECIATION
Alex Rodriguez, M.D. Class 1973 - for sending the above beautiful smiling pictures of a gorilla and a kitten.
Maida Antigua, M.D. Class 1971 - for the above picture of the Filipino general or commanding officer who is afraid of water - hydrophobia.
Ernesto Yu, M.D. Class 1973
Wilmo Orejola, M.D. Class 1974
Leah Estrera-Yap, M.D. Class 1976
Henry Lim Yu, M.D. Class 1978
Bradford Tan, M.D. Class 1983
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Learning about yourself