December 16, 2019

by drplasticpicker

One of the best parts of my job as a middle manager is I get to work with our young pediatricians. I am tasked in my position with recruiting, orienting and “managing” them so that we keep our pool of talent strong. Through the last three years, these young pediatricians, almost a decade younger than I, have taught me so much about the world, life and relationships. In turn, I try to impart some pediatric knowledge but mostly financial advice to them. When I’m chatting with them about cases or their schedules, I sprinkle in non-sequiturs about interest rates, loan consolidation, 529 plans, and keeping your expenses low. I know, I’m kind of an odd middle manager. Although I have to say, my old residency mentor Young-Ho Yoon taught me much the same when I was an intern. I remember one of his talks was about investing in a Roth IRA! That’s a thorough senior resident https://drplasticpicker.com/dr-young-ho-yoon-pediatrian-and-environmentalist-1/. I do have to say, I think I’ve in turn also helped increase the young group I mentor’s collective net worth! My father was an accountant so personal finance comes naturally to me.

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December 16, 2019

by drplasticpicker

There once was a tidal marsh, wetlands rich with sea grass, insects and shorebirds.

1852 United States Army Corps created a dike

1946 dredging began

1962 dredging ended

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December 15, 2019

by drplasticpicker

I am writing to you from the far off lands of Newport Beach, California. Mr. Plastic Picker and I are at a corporate meeting for our organization to celebrate 10 years.  We are staying at a super fancy hotel where they have valet parking at $30 a night, but the hotel room is covered as are our meals for the day’s programs.  Ten years ago when we started with this organization, the corporate rah-rah and indoctrination used to scare me. Others would ask me half in jest, “Did you drink the kool-aid?” But in all seriousness, all large organizations have similar models and I do believe that ours is more egalitarian. I do believe that here independent thinking is encouraged if you work through the system. I have been able to enact positive changes as a middle manager. But I remain in my heart drplasticpicker wanting to take my own path. But I am here, and I will partake and enjoy. We will sit with our friends who started as young physicians with us together 10 years ago and hear about how the corporation will take care of us.  But I will be thinking the entire time, how can I take care of the earth?  Because in the end, we cannot rely only on large organizations but also must make the changes within ourselves. 

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December 14, 2019

by drplasticpicker

Today our middle management meeting was cancelled. We have iPhones with our meeting schedule on the iPhone calendar. There was a strike through the CANCELLED MEETING so I thought the CANCELLED MEETING was cancelled, and therefore we had a meeting. I showed up. No one was there. I was happy it was cancelled but did vaguely think slightly annoyed “If I had known, I could have picked up more plastic.” Today marks the moment when I reached my 100th instagram follower (real followers not fake followers, I did not pay anyone to boost nothing!) and 100th bag of ocean bound plastic collected, and 70th blog post. It’s been a busy 3 months!

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December 12, 2019

by drplasticpicker

It seems counter-intuitive, but sometimes our family chooses “to do nothing” in order to do something. Last spring, I was lucky to accompany our hospital’s residency program on a trip to the Andes Mountains in Peru. I was able to fulfill one of my dreams as the attending pediatrician and helped >400 children of the indigenous Quechuan people. It was a trip and 2 weeks that I will never forget.

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December 11, 2019

by drplasticpicker

This is the third post in this weekly series. Five reasons to be Hopeful, has become a favorite part of blogging for me. Every day brings another dire ecological warning. Then when I read other frivolous news stories, I despair thinking why are not others panicking? But then I look back at my Plastic Picking Totals https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/and Donations Page https://drplasticpicker.com/donation-round-up/– and I realize that all I can do is move forward bag by bag, day by day, blogpost by blogpost. This is how things are achieved and I have hope. Eternal hope.

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December 9, 2019

by drplasticpicker

When I started blogging at drplasticpicker.com, it was the same time that the “Who Gives A Crap?” http://whogivesacrap.org/toilet paper Facebook ads were popping up. It was a very cute slightly chubby brown haired woman shashaying with a big carboard box with the catchy yet slightly profane name, “Who Gives a Cr@p?” (I put the @ in for a, it doesn’t seem right to write even a slightly bad word in a pediatric blog). I was never shy, so after only writing 10 blog posts and maybe a few hundred page views – I emailed their company asking for free toilet paper samples. I was already thinking about switching to a more sustainble toilet paper alternative anyway.

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Dr. Plastic Picker is a “A Personal Plastic-Picking Blog: Fighting Ocean Plastic Pollution One Piece At a Time .” Staying true to this mission, I am here to work against the tide of plastic pollution. The day I found those 9 sunglasses and Humanized My Little Pony Plastic Toy Figure, was literally a wave of plastic washed onto the shores of the half mile of Pacific Ocean coast that I transverse. There were four local residents of our town who just happened to be on the beach that morning also, and we turned to each other. We knew each other because we see eachother on the beaches in the mornings usually in our own contemplative worlds. But that morning we held heavy clothing items together that were weighed down by seaweed, sand and ocean water. These items required two people to carry them the long stretch to the trash bins. Together we heaved those items into the bins. And those 9 sunglasses above we collected in the little pile together.

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December 7, 2019

by drplasticpicker

It has started. It is December 7, 2019. Eighteen more days until Christmas and now commences the mad rush. I feel it at clinic. Parents have that dazed look in their eyes as I ask them how things are going. Work, school and family social demands pile up. Dr. Plastic Picker went to my first work holiday party last night. I tried to deliver good comprehensive care to my 28th patient of the day who tested positive for Influenzae A, and still make it to a 6pm work party that was 45 minute drive away. I failed. Took care of the family first, which is always the right thing to do. I rushed home to cleanse my face and my blepharitis-plaqued eyes, put on a clean layer of foundation and pencil in my eyebrows that disappeared in the late 90s. Arrived there at 650pm. Tis the season.

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