Communications Plan : S.I podcast

Nowadays, everyone has a podcast. There is a small barrier to entry; you just need to have a microphone, decide your topic, and choose a host platform. This is likely why there are so many podcasts. Generally, in life, when pursuing any activities, it is important to find meaning in what you do. When I embarked on the journey to create a podcast of my own, I chose to address something dear to my heart. 

For many years, I went through medical training and was educated on rare tumors known as sarcomas. I would find that the time alloted to speak to patients often was not enough for the patients, and coupled with the exorbitant amount of information someone could receive all at once, it was clear that people needed a moment to digest the information and a reliable resource that they could return to at will to ensure they had their questions answered. 

This was the birth of Sarcoma Insight, a podcast dedicated to the education of patients, families, and trainees, with a focus on musculoskeletal bone and soft tissue tumors. This has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life, as it has proved more of a success than I could have ever imagined. My cohost and I have. spoken about it at conferences, and we will be publishing on it in medical journals soon. 

In my current pursuit of an MBA, as if I were not already busy enough, we have been tasked with a challenge in one of our courses. In particular, how can I make the podcast better, and any additional expansion would require increasing our online footprint and gaining revenue through advertising or merchandise. It is difficult to decide how best to proceed with this, but a communications plan is needed to address how best to proceed. 

I believe that a multifaceted approach would be best, bolstering the sarcoma insight website as a reliable means to provide additional information to our listeners. Identify the appropriate rate for ad revenue per episode and potential sponsors. We will begin developing our merchandise, which begs the question: What cool gear do the listeners of Sarcoma Insight want? 

Marathon Update!

When I decided to run the marathon, I got all sorts of feedback from people. Some hailed me as courageous and inspirational, while some said dumb and stupid. Thirteen weeks into my training, I have finally decided where I stand amongst these different views.

I started out a novice, filled with a lot of excitement upon embarking on this exhilarating journey.I was definitely filled with a lot of adrenaline, the runs were shorter and It was the summer, with little responsibilities other than have fun. 3 miles easy,  6 miles easy, 10 miles easy. As the mileage and other responsibilities began to pile up, adrenaline started to fade and I guess it was here tat those who deemed me stupid were right. It became hard to make the decision to go for that 13, dreadful 18 or even any shorter runs in between these long runs.

But despite the dwindling motivation, I signed up to do the marathon and so I had to train. This was were I started to see the benefits of choosing to run the marathon. I say this because I have always been an advocate of 'just do it....and feel the consequences later' but once the adrenaline was faded, You felt it as you were doing. Every step, heart beat, sound. It was a pretty cool and amazing feeling, something that I did not think I would ever get from running.

So although it might come across as dumb or inspirational I really think that the marathon and running is such more. It allows me to delve a bit deeper into understanding self and a happiness that I haven't experienced yet, which is even more evident upon completion of a long run. November 6th here I come!!!

PS : The hardest thing so far has been raising money to fulfill my pledge of 2500 to shoe4Africa to participate in the race and also help build the first children's hospital in Kenya. If you are reading and feel inclined to donate, you can do so at this link!  http://www.shoe4africa.org/charity/civicrm/contribute/pcp/info?reset=1&id=327  Thank you!!

competitive enigma

First I'll like to apologize to all my readers for taking so long to put up a post, I was plagued with two ridiculous examinations followed by a week and half of suffering from an unknown illness but now I'm back!

Speaking of sickness, in my textbook for pathology (pathos -suffering, logos- to study) I came across a quote that got me thinking.

"There is no escape: It seems that everything one does to earn a livelihood, to subsist, or to enjoy life turns out to be illegal, immoral, or fattening, or--most disturbing--possibly carcinogenic(cause cancer)"

So the gears in my head start to churn....If it is inevitable that potentially everything that we do is bad for us then living itself is essentially dying, no matter how you live. Or is the fact that our world is so competitive that in order to succeed most people knowingly or unknowingly put others down or take an opportunity that could have been someone else's.

These are two very compound questions and indeed a certain degree of truth to both of them but I think in the context of the the above quotes, the second question is one of direct relation. It reminded me of a quote by fabolous the rapper "when you take a chance ever wonder who you take it from".

It is no doubt that every job you get, someone doesn't get a job so they feel unfulfilled. When you gt accepted into an academic institution the same, in sports same, an election same, wars are even worse because everyone suffers. It seems inevitable in every aspect of society that competition plays a role. The thing about competition is that there is a winner and loser and in the grand scheme of thing, people do not usually make a choice to lose at life(no matter what their personal definition is of winning and losing)

It seems that having 'limited resources' play a part in creating this competitiveness that turns out to be detrimental to all. But at the same time could there be a world without competition? And in the case that such a paradigm existed, would it be without war and fraudulence? would everyone be healthy? I guess the only thing for certain is it will be a much different place than our current world.

sex and the generation

To me this is similar to asking, what came first? the egg or the chicken.
It is obvious that over the past view years there have been increases in sexual education(egg) but also 'increases' in sexual practices especially by the younger children(chicken).

Could it be that all the sexual education and preventative techniques such as; teaching the use of condoms to middle schoolers with artificial penis', introducing things like dental dams and having a conversation about various diverse sexual practices spur the interest and exploration of the young. We have come a long way from the ancient mentality where abstinence was preached and sexual practices were taboo to induce fear into the young. This also seemed to not work because it seemed to evoke the same type of exploration in people that is seen with the new method.

 Bottom-line is that people will and always have been exploratory and always trying new things from a young age, experimenting however whenever they can. Therefore the idea that the increase in sexual education is causing more youth to involve in sexual practices has to be false. Instead it is a positive sign because the individuals who would partake n the sexual practices are now comfortable to discuss it, therefore opening up a forum to address possible disease prevention methods that may be unknown.

In other words the chicken came before the egg and individuals should try to have conversations with siblings, children ad family members about practices. Obviously not all people are comfortable talking about this topic which has arisen because of the old school stigmas that still exists. Maybe one day protection and comfortable dialogue will be in the forefront of everyones mind who chooses to engage in sexual practices.

PS the chicken did come before the egg, or at least that's what the scientists currently claim.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38238685/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/which-came-first-chicken-or-egg/

BE like water

"Be like water" - Bruce Lee

Yes! he was an amazing martial artist, great actor but he was an even better philosopher.
When I heard that line, I got so hyped because he had put in words the way that I enjoy living my life. Think about it for a second....do I sound crazy? maybe. Let me explain.

When you think of water, It is always conforming to fill up an ocean, bowl or water bottle.  Water is always adapting ice, to liquid to gas. It can be forceful like a tsunami or gentle during a bath. Water is everywhere but still remains the same at its very core.

In this ever changing world I think we all should strive to be like water, forceful yet gentle, continually adapting but maintaining a sense of self. Imagine achieving a state when you as an individual can effortlessly gel with individual of diffeent backgrounds ad livelihoods. This is what I strive for. Thanks bruce lee, RIP.

How to argue

 Lil Wayne brought you 'how to love' but today brace yourself because you will get a sneak peak into 'how to argue'

I am not an expert in many things yet but I am an expert when it comes to arguments, anyone who knows me will bet their lifetime earnings on the fact that I am arguing about something about 80 percent of the time. That's because I'm good at it, I am not a lawyer and do not want to be, I argue because
it is fun. The thing a lot of people fail to understand though is that like many things, there are rules.
Rules that automatically lose you an argument without you even knowing it so I will try to touch a few so that my readers will be at an advantage at the next argument on politics, sports, fashion, celebrities etc etc.

1. Do not lose your cool or get mad, once you start raising your voice when its not out of excitement you might as well throw in the towel

2. Avoid using definitives or exact numbers, statistics change continuously therefore words like
possibly, around and -ish should be staples and your best friends during argument

3. Civil rights movement, this is a hallmark nothing bad came from it, a secret weapon so if you can work it *viably* into your argument. This one time I was arguing health policy with this lady and her point was weak and feeble but she threw in civil rights, all I could do was bow and shake my head  it was over! lol

4. Believe your point, do not talk about something that you do not agree with ( dumb for real "hide your kids hide your wife" )

5. Rationalize, best part of argument is when you can convince person (s) to accept that you have a legitimate point. So having some actual statistics never hurt.

Wildcards - racist/ partisan - should be used with discretion, I avoid them in an argument because what if the person is actually a racist or a hardcore partisan ( i.e hate Obama, hate all republicans). Only thing is if you do know these points before hand and they do not collaborate with your views then try to stay away from arguing with such individuals ( could get violent)
                     
REMEMBER an argument is won by whoever does not lose it

I would like testimonies from whoever can adopt these techniques or anything I should add  to my repertoire.

maturity

To many people a sense of increased responsibility, a realistic individual, person of a certain age, or a person with few "childlike characteristics". To me it means being able to see a big picture as often because I think realizing that there are so many other things going on and lives that are as important as you think your livelihood is. The next question would be then, when do individuals mature? and I would like to explain this with a short story

Out in white plains with my younger siblings and while we were refilling quarters for the meter we noticed that the meter next to ours was empty too. They would get a parking ticket soon! something that I've been guilty of many times myself. In that instant I thought to myself o well and turned to walk away but my siblings 7 and 8 years younger called me out "you're just  going to walk away?, they will get a ticket!!". I thought to myself, why would I want to help this stranger, whom I have no idea about...but an even better question overtook that, Why did my sisters want to help and I didn't?

After much thinking I had to admit it, what came across as a gesture of kindness was also a sign of an aspect of maturity that I need to work on. They saw a bigger picture knowingly or not. Growing old in this world it becomes easy to loose touch with yourself and the world around you because every year adds on responsibilities and stresses. Most importantly we stray away from our "childlike" characteristics that are supposed to be a sign of maturity.

To become mature, I think that the responsibility and old age should be combined with a good dose of youthful exuberance and slightly laissez faire outlook on life.


PS: My weekly 'events' have not been going as planned with the start of school and moving. I have proved unable to complete 7 drawings in a week and that will prove ever more complicated. I have decided that I will still keep drawing as a weekly activity only once a week, but reading three articles daily still remains. In search for a new weekly event to attempt to work into my schedule all ideas are welcome :)