February 5, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Slowly but surely I’m getting to the 24 hour pizza dough rise. The original recipe was the bobbie flay recipe, but I’ve done it so often now and added my own variations that I feel like it’s my own. Plus I use it as a food waste recipe to use the last remaining bits of flour. Today was 4 cups of flour (2 cups of bread flour, 1 cup of wheat flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour), 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 package of yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and sprinkled rosemary AND thyme (the thyme is new). The sensory experience of kneading the warm dough in the relativeness darkness of the kitchen is very relaxing. It’s set on the kitchen counter covered near the cookbook area, covered with the pretty green beeswax wraps.

I have a full day of clinic today, and I may or may not have to show up at our Girl Scout meeting. Girl Sccouts is a whole other blog topic. But yesterday I wasn’t that helpful after clinic because I was tired still from the emotional elation of the UCSD Family Practice Grand Rounds entitled “Creativity, Wellness and Climate Activism.” I stopped by to thank Dr. AF for his honest and powerful presentation. But I’ve learned to self-care in a fundamental way. So last night I was napping on and off late afternoon, and then our tween daughter wanted me to toss the ball to her while she practiced volleyball. I was feeling tired initially but it was something important to her. So I self-elevated my mid-40s body off the couch, and threw her the volleyball again and again and helped her practice setting and spiking. I’m amazed that she likes volleyball, personally I’m scared of a ball hitting me. I think it’s because I wear glasses.

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February 2, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Who knew saving the earth would include discovering new foods and making them? I was already Financially Independent https://drplasticpicker.com/the-road-to-fise-financial-independence-to-save-the-earth/, as I was born super frugal. But now with my culinary adventures and misadventures, I’m having a super fun time in the kitchen trying new fancy recipes. I thought I wasn’t a “foodie” and our tween daughter actually hates that term, as she thinks it’s very elitist. But I do love good food, and truly good food can lead to a good earth for all of us. Maybe if I end up writing my first book, I’ll just call it Good Food Good Earth???? I’ve thought about a book on and off, but honestly I’m having too much blogging to myself in the mornings.

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January 26, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I was completely overwhelmed last night. There is a bit of political tussel at work about committee responsibilities. It’s easy being Assistant Boss because that’s the title I have, and I’ve reached a point in my career where I realize the titles are not that important. The important part is that I have specific responsibities in areas of our organization that actually mean money. I have to make sure we meet certain metrics, state required projects need to be completed, clinical quality measures reached. And if we don’t meet these metrics or get these state required quality projects completed, it means millions of dollars in fines. We are also a bonus driven organization, so when the physician group meets certain metrics than there are certain calculations to our compensation that happens. Sometimes I look out at departmental meetings and a fellow physician will be spouting nonsense about appointment times slots and 15 minute this and 30 minute that or why they aren’t included in certain meetings, and I’ll go into a trance and stand there and nod but I retreat into my own inner universe. I’ll think to myself “penny wise, pound foolish” and think about my networth or about the plastic pollution crisis or about my EMR inbox and the patient results I need to respond to. So much of the world is penny wise and pound foolish. I need to retreat into my inner universe at a lot of meetings, so I can just stand there, keep my mouth shut and move our department painfully forward.

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January 25, 2021

by drplasticpicker

It’s 542am and the wind is howling. It’s raining in Southern California, and it’s much needed but unusual for us. Having lived through multiple droughts in our sunny state, I’m always grateful for whatever rain we can get. I spent last night updating our finances and refining our goals. I thought I had neglected things of late, but everything was fine. We are in tip-top shape financially and have some medium sized investments that we will make soon. It’s funny how the hard-work and foundation we laid out fifteen years ago are paying generous dividends. Personal finance is easy now. I had mentioned on the KevinMD podcast that it helps to be financially independent, and I wanted to check if that was true for our numbers. And it actually is. I could stop working now completely, and we would be fine without my income. But that has never been the point of financial independence, it was more freedom from someone else or some other entity being able to control me.

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January 24, 2021

by drplasticpicker

GATHER was featured in the New York Times and a critically acclaimed film on Indigenous Food Systems and Indigenous Food Rights. It explores the connections between restoring ecosystems and food systems. (Peds Chief) , (CATCH Peds Obesity Clinic) and I are proud to invite limited interested members of our medical group to a free virtual film screening of Gather, and panel discussion with Chef Nephi Craig (Western Apache Nation and professional chef) and our own Dr. Dana Patton (Pediatric GI) and Dr. William Pfeiffer. Target audience is primarily the AAP-CA, Kaiser SD Peds Department, and San Diego Area Pediatricians, but we will have room for some interested in our medical group outside of pediatrics. This is funded by a generous grant from AAP-CA3 San Diego. You will be emailed a link to view the movie for free, and panel discussion for CME will be on March 5, 6pm. Please comment below or email Mr. Hakim Tokhi to RSVP AAPCHILDRENSARTCOUNCIL@GMAIL.COM

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January 23, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I made this wine-cork upcycled ocean plastic figure yesterday. I was in an intense storm of professional angst, and he came together from the bits and pieces I had saved from the last solo beach clean up. I remember where I found the figure, who I now know is Evil Kenevil, in the sand embankment where the Surf Rake deposits it’s load. I found the blue plastic sand toy handle nearby, broken as many cheap plastic beach toys are. People are often surprised that there are plastic hangers in the beach. I’ve found many like the one above. Just the top parts. I don’t know how and I don’t now where from. I just find them and keep the interesting plastic bits. It all came together to make a sailboat, and a plastic figure (now I know from Toy Story 4) that was trying to ride off into an unknown future.

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January 20, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Hello Climate Change & Health Committee Members,

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January 19, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I watched my KevinMD podcast at least 15 times, maybe more. Mr. Plastic Picker asked me if I was watching it AGAIN, and I got a bit irritated at him. The reason I was watching it multiple times because it was almost like my Plastic Picking Senior Thesis. My actual senior thesis in college likely only three people ever read. It was a year of futility because I picked a topic that would be doable within the year at Harvard, and not something I was passionate about. I was so focused on the mechanics of getting into medical school and not a passion. I need to remember this for my now 5 AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health interns. I need to find them work that they are PASSIONATE about. This is the only way to true growth and progress. I was not passionate about cleft palate and eugenics theory. I learned the mechanics of academic historical writing. I AM PASSIONATE about plastic picking and ocean beach cleaning, and physician wellness and management and environmentalism. I think this is demonstrated in the KevinMD Podcast interview. Plus, I kept on listening to the podcast because honestly I did not prepare for it. I thought I was very tangential as I was giving the interview. But the interview is actually the culmination of what picking up almost 400 bags of ocean plastic pollution and salvaging over 1500 items from the ocean/landfill and reploying it into the circulation of human consumption does to a person. This litter picking journey and ocean plastic pollution reduction journey for me has been about passion. I think that passion is evident in the podcast interview.

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January 18, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I think my work iPhone broke! Oddly I’m totally okay with that. I was carrying it downstairs this morning to start blogging at about 430am, and it was on top of two laptops. I was balancing the iPhone and two mouses as I walked carefully down the dark stairs. When I reached the kitchen safely, something plopped loudly on the ground. I was worried it was the mouse, but it was actually the work iPhone and it had fallen exactly horizontally planar onto the ground. No glass is broken. But it won’t turn on. I’m oddly OK with it. I have the day off anyway today. My work iPhone is the only way for me to check Instagram and udpate (or at least how I typically use my devices) or for people to text me. I’m sure it will start working when I replug it in, but I’m enjoying the work Iphone quiet right now.

My interview on KevinMD posted and I’m still in that cringy/shy stage after revealing myself and the blogstory. https://youtu.be/d4QVLqg7Okg or https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/how-ocean-plastic-picking-made-me-a-better-pediatrician-podcast.html I watched it several times, and am truly happy with it but can still be cringy. My friend Dr. McFrugal was right, Kevin Pho is a very kind and encouraging interviewer. In the end, my daughter and mom really liked the interview and that made me happy. I posted it on my personal facebook page and several groups I am part of. The entire point is to raise awareness about the plastic pollution crisis and environmentalism, so I need to share it. I questioned again why I am so open and why I began this blog journey, and my daughter reminded me that “Mommy, if this encourages one person to start picking up plastic – than it is worth it.” Tweens are so wise at times. And so it’s all worth it. The story is simple and straightforward and it’s mine. I should be proud to share it. I did look great on camera though! My mom liked my shirt. She doesn’t know that I bought it at Good Will. LOL.

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January 14, 2021

by drplasticpicker

There is no way that granola is a health food. This is probably one of the great myths that has partially worsened our obesity epidemic. Growing up as an immigrant kid, I thought granola was healthy and it was American. Granola bars are ubiquitous especially with their plastic wrappings. I’m not saying that granola is not a perfectly fine food to eat, but it’s really a dessert. It should be used as a topping on oatmeal, or as a rare treat on top of something healthier.

I was inspired by my Instagram friend @lowwastejoy who was one of the first Instagram environmental friends I made years ago. We’ve never met, but there is a back and forth in the Instagram community that is real. Every time she posts something, I think it looks like a great idea. I think maybe because I know she is Asian as well, and maybe our thought processes through some kind of shared cultural experience and trying to be eco-minded is similar? I’m not sure what it is, but I often think her ideas are great. She posted last night home-made granola and I had been looking for a new granola recipe. One that I got from a friend was too burnt and I did not like the spices. It looked pretty on Instagram and we ate most of it, but it was for me a fail. I realized it was too burnt and @lowwastejoy had a recipe that seemed more gooey which is more to my liking.

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