Category: Uncategorized

March 7, 2021

by drplasticpicker

My mortgage broker and I are best friends again. I’ve worked with this particular person for over a decade on various purchases, and I value our relationship. I always shop around at least with 1-2 other brokers, but usually she will offer a comparable rate and the most important thing about her is that she gets the job done. I’ve tried to work with other mortgage brokers but they are not as efficient as this particular person. She really is a gem.

So I’m up and continuing to work on my refinance of the two properties. Before I commit to making a big financial move (this is not big, but a moderate financial move), I have to have quiet and go through the numbers. And honestly yesterday morning, I went through the scenarios and the decision to refinance was a no-brainer for property #1.

The first property is a no-brainer as I have a 30-year fixed at 4.6 percent around and bout 25 more years left on the loan, and I will refinance at a 20-year-fixed at about 2.875% with 0 points. When I originally bought this property I had a substantial downpayment > 30%. I’m a super safe real estate investor. Anyway, the monthly payment will actually stay the same but the length of the loan will shorten 5 years. I will save us 70,000 in interest over the lifetime of this loan, as this is a long-term investment. As always Dr. Plastic Picker has plan B-Z for what may happen in life, and for some reason if Mr. Plastic Picker and I need to downsize – I will be very comfortable in this 2 bedroom 2 bath place in a choice area in downtown. Lets just say its across from one of the best places on earth – A LIBRARY! Free unlimited books for me to read in retirement which will keep my retirment cost low. What more could I ever need? But in all seriousness we have things planned out that we will comfortable retire in the current home we live in. But always good to have back-up plan after back-up plan.

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December 21, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Mr. Plastic Picker’s mother turned 80 this weekend and we had a small family party. Our small family party included buying a pumpkin pie from Sprouts (we had all been wanting to eat one for a while and there was very little plastic), singing Happy Birthday while our tween daughter played on the piano, and shooting the requisite pictures to send to family members. We then ended by eating said pumpkin pie before dinner which is pure luxuriousness. It was a standard 9 inch pumpkin pie so just enough for everyone in our 6 person family (excluding pets who can’t eat pie) to have one piece and an extra bite.

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December 20, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I was a bit despondent about the state of the COVID-19 vaccine roll out in our particular institution and in the country, probably felt like the trash art piece I made from bottle caps yesterday. Looking. Looking. Where is my vaccine? But then I read an article in the New York Times about how the wealthy countries including ours have ensured that rich countries will be vaccinated first and the poor will be last. It was all kind of depressing.

But if there is anything that Dr. Plastic Picker is good at, it’s compartmentalizing things. What happens in our institution will happen. We will get ours in due time, and both Mr. Plastic Picker and I don’t want to tempt fate. We actually would rather get the Moderna vaccine simply because it sounds better, Moderna sounds more modern. And regarding the inequity of poor versus rich countries and echoes of colonialism, wow – I can’t do anything about that right now.

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November 12, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I Ecosia (not googled) searched “Stretching Calming Youtube Video Hawaii” last night. I had the video on and the calming beach sounds while I did some simple stretching for 10 minutes. I had just a normal busy day in clinic. I had extended myself to doing bi-monthly VIDEO sessions with a family that is at a crisis point due to a common pediatric psychiatric diagnosis. The patient is in with the therapist but the appointment is not for another month, and it’s frustrating for both the family and myself. I happened to have a psychiatry book on this topic in my house. It has vetted therapy techniques to “Improve Your Daily Life and Take Back Your Peace of Mind, Calm Anxiety, Diasable Panic Triggers, Prevent Relapses and Setbacks, Manage Responses.” The author I just checked is the director for mental health training at our sister HMO up north. Now I definitely know I am in good hands!

I am sending to the family short lessons from the workbook for their child, and just checking up with them and seeing how they are doing. It is through the secure portal. I’m doing it for them, but I’m also doing it for myself. I’m getting to learn something so valuable that no one has ever taught me. I desperately need to learn for myself and for my patients. How do we heal ourselves?

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November 10, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Did you know that Salvia rosmarinus or Rosmarinus officinalis commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary I had known these shrubs on my walks around the parking lot, and I had seen bees around them. But for some reason yesterday I really noticed the plant, and broke off a few branches to smell the leaves. Indeed, it smelled like Rosemary. I thought they were native, but they are a transplant from the Mediterranean that has a very similar climate to our little corner in Southern California. This is a wild growing cultivated plant. Just reading the Wikipedia page there is a long history of it’s journey during Greek and Roman times, through Europe, and finally “Rosemary finally arrived in the Americas with early European settlers in the beginning of the 17th century.” Then at some point it arrived in a little hidden corner of our HMO Parking lot.

I know that the particular non-descript HMO complex I work at was built about 30 years ago. Rosemary plants can live about 30 years. I wonder how old this plant is? I wonder who planted it? I love Wikipedia. It details the history of Rosemary and “In Don Quixote (Part One, Chapter XVII), the fictional hero uses rosemary in his recipe for balm of fierbras.” What is the balm of fierbras? “According to a chanson from 1170, Fierabras and Balan conquered Rome and stole two barrels containing the balm used for the corpse of Jesus. This miraculous balm would heal whoever drank it . . . Don Quixote mentions to Sancho Panza that he knows the recipe of the balm. In Chapter XVII, Don Quixote instructs Sancho that the ingredients are oil, wine, salt and rosemary.” When Don Quixote drinks the balm of fierbras, he vomits and sweats and is healed from it. Sancho gets diarrhea and is nearly killed from it.

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November 4, 2020

by drplasticpicker

It’s 530am after the 2020 Pandemic Era US Elections. There was the Executive Branch on the ballot, but so was the Senate, House and many local races. There is palpable sense of disappointment on my personal Facebook feed as there is in our home. Yet I have always known we live in a skewed bubble echoing chamber. Of course California went blue, as did the entire west coast. 65% of Californians voted for Biden. Yet I also know the history of the anti-socialist Cuban community, and I could have told you that they 100% they aren’t “Latino Voters” that would suddenly vote for a ticket with a black woman as VP candidate? They are Cuban-Americans and they hate Communist, just like the community I grew up in. Case in point their favorite son is Mark Rubio. He is not a caricature. He is elected by a population and represents that view. Do you think Cubans and Southeast Asians in the majority care about Black Lives Matter? There is still centuries of internalized racism and colonialism. But we can’t save the earth with just half of the population, and no matter what happens with the election – we know that at least half voted for Trump.

Did anyone ever think it was going to be easy? There are still many ballots to be counted. If this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that no one can predict anything. Demoacracy will play out in it’s messy and beautiful way. Dr. Plastic Picker believes in democracy – this is the only way things will work. The only way we can save this earth, is changing hearts person by person. We also need to speak the language they understand, which can include finances or faith. It’s hard and messy, and takes engagement and building community. Mr. Plastic Picker looked at me yesterday with a clearer gaze and he said, “You are right. You keep on doing what you are doing no matter what the election results. You’ll still be Dr. Plastic Picker.”

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October 26, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Does the world seem out of whack? I had the third HR/middle-management issue come up this weekend. This one came from far left field. I was texting with Chief Boss and I told her if I wasn’t a happy litter-picker these days, I would seriously quit. I realized all these issues likely have to do with the chaos in the world right now. There is a pandemic going on, with greater than 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and we are entering the third wave and bracing for the headlong collusion of flu and COVID which is fluVID. She has had to deal with 10x greater HR issues. I get it. We are all stressed, and therefore everyone is going a little bit crazy. The three issue are now solved (at least in my mind) but geeze-louise people.

Seriously, trying to help run a department if you want to do it right and just and actually improve healthcare within a large bureacracy is hard. It’s so easy to just sit there, draw your compensation, have your pension grow, complain about late patients, point out that they didn’t come on time and just avoid larger structural issues. But that is the problem right? Large systems breed complacency. And MDs have a higher calling to actually improve health outcomes and to agitate. Unfortunately anytime you agitate or make changes, people get all bothered. And then there are the micro-aggressions that women leaders have to go through. It is so real and painful and unfair, that I can’t even begin to explain.

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October 14, 2020

by drplasticpicker

The Aerobin 400 composter is still out of stock at Costco! It retails on other sites for $370, but at Costco it is $299. There is currently a coupon for $75 but it is out of stock. I’m checking every day and I’d rather get it for $225. But I think after the rebate expires, I’ll be able to get it for $299. If I have patience, I’ll save $75 at least. I almost bought it for $325 on amazon yesterday, but Dr. Young-Ho Yoon told me to check the costco site again. The aerobin 400 was available for a hot second, and then the “OUT OF STOCK” image came back on. Anyway, I’ll keep on checking back. It’s providing me some amusement as I want to snag it for a good price. I want to compost but I also know that it’s not good to waste $75 just being impatient. Amazon is a really tricky platform. It made me think I needed $15 compost starter and also a $20 snazy kitchen compost container that looked so eco-cool and stores about 1L of food scraps. So it would have been almost $400. But Young-Ho told me he didn’t get the compost starter and we have plenty of plastic tubs that can hold a days worth of food scraps, so I don’t need that kitchen scrap compost container. This is why I don’t like shopping on amazon. They always make me think I need things that I don’t!

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