Rediscovered a durable plastic friend. Our Popsicle molds!
October 4, 2020
by drplasticpicker
The world is in chaos these days. I was obsessively checking CNN and Politico since Thursday night, since every time I checked someone else who I would think of as evil doers was getting COVID-19 due to not wearing mask. But as a pediatrician and generally one that does not wish anyone harm (I just wish they would not get reelected), I realize that it is a sad situation for the country. I think the moral of the story is not to doctor shop. When you have a good physician who does not bow to your every whim, then probably you have someone who cares about you and will take care of you rather than worrying about “satisfaction” scores. Again, it’s just sad all around. I do not wish harm to befall on anyone. I do wish the next administration will help stop climate change.
Didn’t quite turn out like the picture from the website. It was good fresh out of the oven but a bit too dense. I think I’d rather figure out the yeast thing. I don’t mind if some bread takes time.
One of the neighborhood cats was stalking our two bunnies who live on our second story balcony! I had been hearing some commotion out there and figured it was just Peter and Bella hopping around. But it was a cat! Apologies to all the cat lovers out there, but our household is definitely a bunny and dog house. I was so mad! I may not dote on our bunnies but I do love them, and any vet bills would cost hundreds of dollars. Once Peter had some congestion and Mr. Plastic Picker took him into the bunny vet and Peter needed Azithromycin for $150! It looked exactly like the Azithromycin I prescribe to kids. Mr. Plastic Picker wanted to leave them out there, but I insisted on bringing them in the house. So the married bunnies in our house hopped back inside and will just shed like crazy indoors When I spied the neighborhood cat on the rooftop where she had leaped onto our awning, I was so mad. I grabbed one of the bunnies dried poop pellets and threw it at her while it was pitch dark! Go away you killer of songbirds!
“The Mother.” My father-in-law was walking by and I asked him to hold up the vinegar container for the picutre. I couldn’t see “The Mother” without his help. LOL.
October 2, 2020
by dr plastic picker
Did I tell you that I’m trying to make home-made vinegar? It’s my second batch. The first batch I attempted after having left over apple peels and cores from making apple-sauce. That attempt was a failure. It looked pretty on Instagram as the fluid became more amber and I used Korean shot glasses with black lettering that had the Korean letters artistically distorted by the yellow hued viscosity of the liquid. Half became moldly, and the other container essentially was just apple juice that I pasteurized and made into an apple slushy. The second batch I started a week ago. I had half given up on the vinegar project, but I found an unopened can of Modelo beer during Saturday’s plogging run. I washed the can well, and decided that the earth had decided that I should try the vinegar project again. I made one with the Modelo beer, and the other one reusing a glass container we store our coffee sugar. The coffee sugar glass jar needed to be updated but it was “clean” just with that old residue of sticky granulated white sugar on the sides. I thought, huh, that’s about the amount of sugar I need to make vinegar? It takes a lot of water to clean that sugar off. Why don’t I just try again? So I made apple sauce again with some mushy apples, and saved the apple scraps. I sterilized everything this time with hot water, both the apple scraps and the water I used to make the vinegar. This was the ultimate food waste project, because the sugar residue in the glass container I am using to make the vinegar, and the apple scraps, and the Modelo Beer would have all been discarded. I am also reusing two glass jars. I learned from the first attempt. I used a different fermentation weight that is not as pretty but works better and keeps the apple scraps underneath the liquid line. I stirred it a few times well with clean spoons a few times a day the first week. Yesterday when I checked on the vinegar project, I kid you not – the thing is working. “The Mother” is forming.
We never show our faces! It’s part of the mystique.
October 1, 2020
by drplasticpicker
Plogging is jogging while picking up trash. Plalking is walking while litter picking. Plurfing is gathering plastic while surfing. #fillabag is when you find a bag and you fill it with trash. There is an entire lexicon and culture within the Instagram trash collecting world. You can clean the environment while jogging, walking, paddle-boarding, kayaking or surfing. You can make the trash you find into art and be an artivist. You can knit with discarded fishing lines into a scarf like @grannyplastic. You can spend hours picking up litter or just 2 minutes like #2minbeachcleanup. You can even be an awesome dog in the Netherlands like Bob The Plog Dog. The only rule is that you have to show some of the litter you pick and care about the environment. I am Dr. Plastic Picker, this community’s unofficial litter-picking pediatrician. I am a Harvard-educated pediatrician and Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Kaiser San Diego. I am Co-Chair of AAP-CA3 San Diego Climate Change and Health Committee which is currently the largest AAP committee chapter in the country. But I’d rather be known as Dr. Plastic Picker.
Dr. Platsic Picker was gifted 2 big zuchinnis? There is so much fiber and vitamin C in these two things. If that isn’t a reason to be hopeful? I don’t know what is!
September 30, 2020
by drplasticpicker
Wow. Did you watch the presidential debates last night? LOL Mr. Plastic Picker turned on CNN for me (I am still unable to figure out the TV) and exited the room quickly. He refuses to watch any political coverage as it gives him too much stress. I watched last night with our teen son, and I had a great time! Yes it was very scary to hear all of the Orange Man’s nonsensical utterings. The current occupant of the White House is clearly unhinged and his refusal to disavow white supremacists is downright scary. But I had a great time yesterday because Vice President Joe Biden showed just how decent he is and he did great. He stayed in there, and he uttered things to the Orange Man that no one else but a fellow 70-year-old white male could say to him “Just Shut Up Man.” That is Joe Biden’s white old guy priviledge and I appreciate that he used it! And Dr. Plastic Picker applauded gleefully. It is so odd. Last night was the first night I slept a full 8 hours and deeply. I don’t follow too much political news, but my heart was content with Joe Biden’s performance. I’ll donate some money and I’ll move on. Yes everyone needs to get out the vote. But the Dumpster Fire that was the Presidential Debate showed how much the Orange Man looks down on the common everyday person. He made fun of Joe Biden attending Delaware College. Who does that? Does the Dumpy President really believe that blue collar workers and immigrants or anyone likes someone who makes fun of where someone went to college where they are worried about 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and many can’t even attend college? If the Irish-Catholic white senator feels Trump is looking down on Irish Catholics, how do you think the rest of the brown and black and yellow and green and purple people are feeling? Oh and don’t forget! While the US was distracted with COVID-19 deaths and the farce that has become our presidential election, Russia claimed the entire planet on Venus. Yes, the Russians claimed Venus. Do you think that was Putin’s plan to begin with? He distracted us enough to claim an entire planet. If American Democracy and our laws and institutions can’t prevail over a clearly incompetent and not that talented and clearly not-smart President, than we are toast. Because when the Klingons come, what is going to happen? If the Vulcans come we will be okay, because they believe in Infinite Diversity in Infinate Combinations.
I actually recommend kids garden and not be on social media.
September 28, 2020
by drplasticpicker
Life is full of contradictions. As a pediatrician I worry about children being exposed to too much screen time, as this has been shown to disrupt sleep and has replaced some of the time children are interacting with real people or moving their bodies. Social Media has been a conduit for child exploitation as well, as adults who are evil-doers have made contact with children through the different platforms. Yet at the same time, Dr. Plastic Picker is a social media Instagram creature. I exist because of social media, Facebook and Instgram, although I think my heart belongs on this blog and in clinic. How can your social media semi-savy pediatrician advise you to limit your social media?
My mother-in-law just scared the jezeebers out of me. If you are a colleague or a patient family in real life, you know I talk about her a lot. How one single person can affect another person’s life without being your spouse or your child is shocking. This almost 80-year-old Korean woman (I am Asian but not Korean) has altered the course of my life in more ways than I can describe. I mean I’ve been alternatively praising and complaining about her almost every day at work for 12 years. This should be an entirely separate blog, book, motivational speaking tour for sure. If Dr. Plastic Picker is able to avert climatic disaster in the next 9 or 14 years, I’ll get back to that one. “How To Live With Your Mother-In-Law: A True Story.” Let’s just leave it that her life is intertwined with mine, and we now happily co-exist after 15-years together. I’ve almost lived with her longer than my own mother, who lives just a few miles away.
I have to write the Eco-America blog post today. It’s 300-600 words which is shorter than my usual post which are about 800 words. There is a 50% chance that it will be cross published onto the American Academy of Pediatrics National Blog. One of my former co-residents at Mans Greatest Hospital was published on the AAP site last week regarding autism, but she went into academic medicine and did the Mans Greatest Hospital General Pediatrics Academic Medicine Fellowship. She was mentored by the past AAP President Dr. Jim Perrin and has published a lot of papers. So I want to spend some time of the blogpost, so will write it this weekend. I try not to compare myself to others back in my former training program, but I still do. I do have to say that I was mentored by the ocean and a community of Instagram Litter Pickers. It doesn’t feel natural to me to just write that kind of blogpost on this blog, because the Eco-America blog is for a different audience. I want to write “the truth” about my activism but filtered for a mainstream audience. On this blog, this readership sees the truth. Indeed, I think of this readership as Mr. Plastic Picker who likes me to read my blogposts to him in the morning when he is brushing his teeth. That my husband who studied Shakpeare and is a talented short story writer himself likes my writing is meaningful. At some point, I hope he takes up writing again.
I’m not sure why this morning’s batch of vegan muffins were thus far the best. I think the non-ideal second batch of cornbread where I left huge chunks of baking powder and the kids said it was oddly bitter at times made me more careful this morning. I am also working 1030-730PM, so wanted to spend time this morning doing things for the kids before I left for the day to see all sick kids into the “night clinic.” The “night clinic” is not as late into the night as year past. When I made the recipe this morning, I took it slow and enjoyed the process. I even used the whisk which I never really used before. I doubled the recipe and did replace a cup of white flour for almond flour (we are trying to finish using that). I didn’t have quite enough blueberries (which needed to be used because they were getting to the end) and added a chopped mushy apple. This recipe calls for a “buttermilk” made with soy milk and apple cider vinegar allowed to curdle, and lemon zest. Both I had never done before, and they were fun. The lemon zest was so fragrant, especially at 6AM when I started the recipe
Beautiful drip irrigation gardening project by one of our eco-conscious pediatricians! Activism comes in all forms, and Dr. Plastic Picker is a big proponent of incorporating personal actions at home with more global actions! Bravo to this pediatrician who will be featured soon in an upcoming blog interview! Composting garden, hydroponics project planned – we are so excited to follow along!
September 25, 2020
by drplasticpicker
Well. I spent an hour composing this following email to our American Academy of Pediatrics CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee. Might as well cut and paste it and put it on this blog! All the items are so important, and as an MD most of them you literally just lend your name and can make a huge difference now. Isn’t that crazy? Most online petitions are not as impactful as these that I vette and pass on to our commitee members. Feel free to read and sign the petitions. If you would officially like to join our committee and are a pediatrician, comment below or email me at drplasticpicker@gmail.com and I will reply with my real account. But you can sign the following even if you are not an AAP member but you have to be a doctor or health care provider.
Hello AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee,
