Granny Flat. I admit, our family is in real estate.
February 26, 2021
by drplasticpicker
I admit it. My family has been involved in the real estate business since the 1970s. But then so have many people in our region. There are a lot of “real estate” families like ours. Just like anyone who has worked and thought about things through many times, real estate is a skill set. And like anything, when you first look at it – it appears daunting, then easy, then really difficult and then in the end simple again.
A really smart HMO resident called me yesterday to ask me real estate advice about buying their first home. They have a small downpayment and are approved for a 30 year fixed at 3.1%. But there is some uncertainty about their lives in terms of where they will be in a year, and where in San Diego they could eventually settle if the graduate gets a job here. No children yet. Smart young doctor that is usually good with money.
Our son’s old superhero cards I’m cutting out into butterflies.
February 25, 2021
by drplasticpicker
It’s 2AM and technically a new day. I had fallen asleep early as I was curled up in a ball, processing some work decisions I had to make. Medicine is hard. I’ve had to make some tough calls morally, and I made the right one. But I had to go to sleep as sleep is restorative. My daughter asked to read something to me, and I just did not have anything left. It had been a long day at clinic as well, supposed to end at 2pm but for me stretched to 5pm after calling local authorities to do a wellfare check. I hardly ever turn away from my children especially the youngest who was born so early, but I had nothing left yesterday. She quietly left and closed the door after I turned her away, and her father followed her to help her with her question. The handsome college junior , my college sweetheart Mr. Plastic Picker came back later and hugged me and told me to go to sleep. We are on the same career track and he has similar situations at work, so he understood my moral fatigue. We are a good team.
I would usually write a Hopeful Wednesday post, but today in lieu of Hopeful Wednesday – I will just cross-post something from my real-life facebook. Our AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee is a real group of friends. And one our friends did something amazing. Here is the post.
It’s been a year of efforts, and I wanted to give a big shout out to Patty Pascual Hosking part of our AAP CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee who works on the climate advocacy/legislative side of things with us. She was helped by our colleague Jim Moseman who leads the award from Kaiser. Patty had this dream of establishing a Green Ribbon to be given out by pediatricians in our committee at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair for research on climate change. Patty is San Diego raised, and Science Fair had been a treasured part of her teenage years and she wanted to give of herself to our community and to the environment through this venue. As with things that are driven by passion, it happened. I can’t tell you how joyous I am. And thanks to Drs. Anne Marie Birkbeck-Garcia, Joe McQuaide, Cindy Fuji and Laurence Ashbacher and our premed intern UCSD student Ashley Teo for jumping on in. “The AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee has been established as a professional organization at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. The committee will judge and award the top 2 high school science projects that are most committed to the improvement in environmental health and most likely to lead to impactful environmental change. The GSDSEF is scheduled to take palce virtually on 3/15-3/18/2021.” Two high school kids will be awarded a “Green Ribbon” with a small monetary award for books, and also we decided to give each a cool concrete planter below with a native succulent. They have been ordered and on their way. These are made locally in Los Angeles by a small business, and hand poured using carbon-capture technology on site from coal and gas plants before they are released into the atmosphere. The carbon is infused with fly-ash and replaces 80% of the concrete compared to traditional methods. It’s lightweight and it’s cool, because Patty Pascual Hosking is cool as is saving the earth, science fair and empowering youth. Oh, women of color in science too since three of the judges are women pediatricians of color. Patty is too modest and I’m telling her awesome story.
And that is it. There is a Bright Vibes Feed they had reposted a quote “The Greatest Threat to Our Planet is the Belief that Someone Else Will Save It” along with the caption “We need more than a handful of environmentalists. We need 7.8 billion of them.” This is true on so many levels. We are all influencing eachother. And I know that in my small corner of the real world and virtual blogsphere, it’s not just me as a climate advocate. I have friends who are more modest (I’m the loud out there one) and they are environmentalist as well, and we’ll do this together. Hugs from Dr. Plastic Picker on this Wednesday morning. Amazing what good friends who care, and a solid night of sleep after yoga will do for my wellness.
I’m working on several substantial climate projects. Therefore I’m up at 424AM to take advantage of the quiet and to read and think. Anyone who wanders onto this blogpost, please know that the readership is like this virtual blanket of friendship I feel as I’m typing away in the silence. This blog is really my journaling about the eco-avatar me trying to save the earth.
We are working on an article for the Journal of Applied Research in Children entitled “INFORMING POLICY FOR CHANGING OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS AND ALSO TO SAFEGUARD THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN IN EJ COMMUNITIES, COMMON SENSE ADVICE FROM FOUR COMMUNITY PEDIATRICIANS.” We were excited to get the article accepted, but now we have to write it. Since our tween daughter was able to almost finish her 7th grade drama project and her History Day Project on Mahatma Ghandi, I thought to myself yesterday – I certainly can try to knock out some work on this writing project. Time moves quickly and I’m the lead author, so I want to really get this moving so we enjoy this experience.
Yesterday was an epic climate advocacy day. Yes it was. Do you know what I did? [DRAMATIC PAUSE] I sat in front of my computer and sent emails. Yes I did. And it was an epic climate advocacy day. I am not being facetious.
Back in January, I had been invited to attend the National Children’s Health and Leadership Forum. The AAP National Leadership had signed the local chapter climate advocates up, and registered us. I just virtually showed up. But it was a very useful conference, as I was able to virtually meet person after person working on climate issues. There was a panel of speakers from the youth climate movements, who had organized the climate marches two years ago. What struck me is when they were asked about how they were able to mobilize and their activism, they were open and said that the reality of activism is that it’s a lot of sitting in front of the computer.
$1 when made at home versus $3.50-$10 store bought
February 15, 2021
by drplasticpicker
Yes, this happened yesterday. I made chocolate hummus spread and also a jar of homemade peanut butter. I had texted one of our other pediatricians yesterday calling her off from weekend after hours clinic, and she texted me a picture of the special breakfast she was making for her family which including waffles with this delicious spread. I was intrigued. Hers was store bought which runs around $3.50 to $10 per container. My primary motivation is to reduce our plastic packaging and palm oil and most store-bought things contain both. It’s been fun to try to make more things at home, and it’s been so delicious. What I didn’t realize that after breakfast with this chocolate goodness topped on a banana, I would feel so full for most of the day.
My siblings and I met virtually for various family reasons and the subject came up on how much do you give your children? It’s funny how life has taken each of us in different directions but our core values are the same. For those that are given much, much is to be expected. That much is what one contributes to the world. Yes, we don’t want to end up like societal leeches that accomplish little like the Trump children and the teen children from all those reality shows that are just horrible with ennui so early in life. But also in terms of material wealth, you should leave them something but not too much. Money should certainly give one security in case there is a grandchild or family member with some unexpected medical condition that needs long-term care, but otherwise money too early or the knowledge there is a pot at the end – will take away one’s chance to earn one’s place in the world.
What is earned is so much more valuable than what is given. The picture above is my son from the back, home from Cross-Country. He is proud to wear the jersey every sports season because he earns it from running 3-7 miles a practice. Those are real miles run, foot to the dirt. Pounding that he voluntarily subjects his body to. It’s part of growing up and this is why sports for so many kids is character building. It truly isn’t about how fast one is or how you place. It’s the journey, and the miles run.
It’s Wednesday and I haven’t blogged at least for a day or two. When I give up blogging for the day, it’s because work has been too demanding or there is a vital climate project that needs to be done. Yesterday was both. We had a middle management meeting where we are meeting with the Nutrition Department to help them and us change to offer better education on plant based diets, and also I am pushing personally to make sure offerings make sense for my patients who are predominantly part of Environmental Justice communities. The more vegetables and plant-based meals all of us eat, the more we will heal the planet and as a community. The other project that is taking some of my precious headspace (which we should all think of precious and not waste on things that are hurtful or hurtful people) is leading our American Academy of Pediatrics author group in writing our opinion piece. It was accepted and everyone is excited. Now comes the real part, we have to write the 8000-12000 word piece. I see it is an opportunity and I’ve done similar things before. It is due in 3 months, but we have to start on it now. The abstract is essentially done, our amazing premed intern has created the common google doc and we are working on the bilbiography. This is important because it is a major academic journal and we are writing about active transportation and changing the built environment to reduce both carbon emissions and address the active transport needs of children. Being able to walk around neighborhoods, bike to school in natural settings improves mental health and physical health, and wards off chronic diseases that are now occuring in adolescence.
I am reminded this morning that not every post has to be soul-wrenching or an introspective piece. My environmentalism is about doing something now about the climate crisis. And the thing that started it all is plastic picking! So here are my monthy totals. I commit to at least 20 bags a month and I hit my goal. Feburary is a shorter month, but I’ve already gathered 3 for the month. If I’m low, I’m just do a quick bag at work because the HMO parking lot is still a mess. At least I cleaned up around where I park my car.
For Janaury 2021, I cleaned up 20 bags of plastic pollution and salvaged 67 Items from the ocean or landfill. In total, I’ve cleaned up 381 bags of plastic pollution and salvaged #1461 Items! Click here to see my lifetime totals page https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/
