So here I am at the office in between patients.  My nose is running like a leaky faucet and my body aches.  I didn’t feel well yesterday either but I worked out on my bowflex anyway (wedding less than 2 months away ya know!).  I feel completely run down and out of energy, even though I ate breakfast this morning.  Yet I’m not going to go home because, well, I won’t be able to call in sick in residency will I?  Not for something like this.  I am taking Augmentin 875 twice a day now and thus far it’s not doing poop. 

There was an interesting thread on the Student Doctor Network forums about calling in sick.  In surgery, you never call in sick…you just carry around an IV pole and have the scrub nurses feed you ibuprofen to keep your fever down while ya operate.  In Internal medicine residency, it’s still frowned upon to call in sick, particularly on a call day.  So I am trying to learn to suck it up and be the Obsessive-Compulsive hand washer to keep from getting sick.   Still…nothing can stop the old woman who accidently coughs up a wad of lung better in your face when you gag her with the tongue blade.  Nor can you escape the inevitable epidemic of gastroenteritis that spreads through the area like wildfire.  I’d rather have a cold anyday of the week than to be stuck on the toliet having the grand-mal-brownout every 15 minutes!

I’m curious. What do you patients think about doctors working when they are sick?  Would you want to be seen by a doctor with a cold?  Leave me some feedback on the comment section and let’s get some discussion going!

Just a quick update to let you know that comments have been re-enabled on the site Had to clear out alot of spam messages. Happy commenting! I’m going back to worrying about match day (and watching the Super Bowl! Patriots are up at the moment)

I’ve been in the BETA for awhile but for those of you who have a blog, myspace or website, let me tell you about Pay-Per-Play! Pretty much you add a small snippet of code to your website and it plays a 5 second audio ad every time someone reaches your page. CPM payouts are estimated around the $14 mark for the launch on February 14th so if you are interested in getting in on the beta for launch-day, you can do so by clicking below:

Pay-Per-Play Beta Test Website!

Please feel free to send me feedback on whether you like the advertising placements or not after Feb. 5th!

Geez.  I’m writing this update from my Motorola Q9m.  My attending gave me his gastroenteritis so I have been chained to the toliet for the past 2 hours.  Can’t eat a thing and choking down some Gatorade is even a challenge right now.  I left work early because all of the patients coming in this afternoon were follow-up appointments.  Nothing is worse then going to the clinic and getting Montezuma’s Revenge while you are there!  “Here ya go buddy, have a steroid shot for your shoulder and the squirts!”  I swear, I might need botox before I’m done with this episode!

Now switching topics…So how have things been?  Well the better half and I went down to Orlando this past weekend for a “Site Inspection” which means free tickets to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Sea World.  A great time was had and it’s always good to mix alot of pleasure in with a wee smidgen of business! Right?  I loved the new Kraken coaster at Sea World and was pleasantly surprised by  Journey to Atlantis.   The Mummy ride at Universal Studios was also awesome.  However I was bummed to find out that they have closed the Back to the Future ride in favor of putting in a motion ride for The Simpsons.  :(  I loved that ride!  Spider man 3D is also beginning to show its age a bit.  I talked it up to Patty before she went on it and she didn’t think it was all that great.   It’s better than Darkastle at Busch Gardens but not as much as I used to think it was.

Ok I am going to send the update to see if this works from my phone!  *clicks send*  If you see this message, I updated my website from my phone!  How cool is that!!!
*goes back to reading Medicine Recall*

Well, I scheduled my last two rotations today. As of April 11th, I will have finished medical school. It’s been a long 4 years leading up to this. I’ve switched career plans 3 times. My gaming time has suffered. I met my future wife. Saw my best friend start residency. Bonded with classmates. Now it’s time to realize the responsibility of taking care of the general public. Perhaps I should open up a Botox and Laser Hair Removal clinic Electrolysis anyone? No wait, even better! I’ll open up the “Richie Truxillo Center for Obesity!” and hire Richard Simmons. That would be the win!

All kidding aside, I am stoked to be graduating soon. I got all my music equipment set up for a post-match-day recording session. 2 new World of Warcraft songs are in the works and the Everquest songs are being remastered. Will be good to have some free time before residency starts on July 1st.

I folded Invitations for the wedding on Saturday. Getting addresses from people is just maddening! Patty is done with her list and I’m the loser who is slacking on my end of the deal! haha Typical guy eh? Anyway here’s a photo from New Year’s Day in beautiful Wrightsville Beach, NC. Pwnage!  Whops no picture, had to take it down

Just finished a 2 week urology rotation at CAMC and interviewed for the slot. Worked some late hours during the rotation. As I was doing this rotation, I swear that everyday I kept thinking about IM residency back in Wilmington (for you new readers, it’s where I grew up). Patty has really changed my life in alot of ways since I met her a year ago. I’ve gone from thinking about myself to thinking about someone else more than myself.  This is why I have switched career plans to from surgical to medical.   At first I had mixed feelings about this but I sat down and prayed that God would make the choice clear for me.  I found out Friday that CAMC was not approved for 2 spots for urological surgery and that they had already had their mind made up back in September on another candidate before I even rotated there.  Pretty much a wasted 1.5 months but I can’t really say that.  I got to do alot and learn alot while I was there.  At least I’ll know what to order when my IM patients need a urological consult

To be honest though, I’ve struggled with the whole medicine vs. surgery idea since 3rd year.  Medical school is cruel in the sense that you have to have your mind made up while you are still sampling the universe in your 3rd year.   As a board certified internal medicine physician, you can apply to fellowships in many many things.  Fields that interest me currently are:  Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Cardiology,  Infectious Disease and Pulmonary/Critical Care.  Then again, I have over a year to really figure things out in that regard.  Plus, doing so on familiar territory back in Wilmington would be a breath of fresh air.   Anyway, match day is February 11th so I will find out then what will go on.  My rank list is certified now so it’s just waiting, which is the hardest part.   I feel pretty good about my decision though…like a weight has been lifted off of my chest.

When I look back at my almost 4 years of medical school, I’ve had many moments like this.  I am sure my residency years will provide even greater challenges for me to tackle.  But with a renewed drive, a loving wife and my family/friends behind me, I feel like the odds are stacked in my favor.

Maybe I will write more tonight but I just rolled back into town and my town house looks like the Tazmainian Evil lived here in my absence!

So it’s December 23rd officially and I am sitting here taking a break from wrapping presents and doing Christmas cards. Today was perilous as I fought the throng of Christmas masses in the bowels of Hallmark and Independence Mall. Still I emerged physically in one piece while my wallet was shot to pieces by the last-minute Christmas sales. Ah the sweet smell of greenbacks floating away! I’m flat broke now. Come on school loan check, where are ya!?!?!

I had my internal medicine interview at New Hanover Regional Medical Center last Friday. I must say, the hospital has grown leaps and bounds since I was a kid, and even since I was there last December. I was not my usual perky self though since I was sick (thanks to the pediatrics rotation I just finished! ha!) and my nose kept running the entire day. I was happy to learn that a couple of my friends are currently doing residency there, namely Nick Morgan who is doing a preliminary surgery year. During the entire interview I was not asked about any medicine! None. Zero! No pimp questions at all! They really just wanted to get to know me as a person and that made me feel good inside…like it would be a place I would definitely fit in. That is not to say I am dropping Urology. On the contrary! But I also know I am in hard fought contention for one of the urology spots at CAMC and I have almost no idea how I stand in terms of that. All I can do is pray. After giving it much thought, I would very much be happy in IM at Wilmington if I didn’t get the urology residency. Maybe a little disappointed but I’ve always taken whatever life has thrown at me and made the best of it. If I am meant to be a urologist then God will place me there. If I am supposed to be in Internal Medicine (with a subsequent Cardiology felllowship or something) then I’ll end up in IM at Wilmington or CAMC. And that leads me to my next point…I’ve spent the last 3 months anguishing over the match process. Although I try not to show it, I lose sleep every night because of it. It’s the fear of not knowing where you are going to end up and what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life that is so maddening. However, I’ve prayed about it and feel at peace. Let match day come. I’ve worked long and hard to get where I’m at. I’ll let God do the rest.

Life *is* good though. I’m getting married and I’m spending Christmas with my future wife and both of our families…Though it involves about 15 hours of driving for me over a 72 hour period. Still spending a romantic Christmas Eve with Patty and then waking up, snuggled next to her Christmas morning is going to be the best present I can think of. I’ve gotten some neat Christmas stuff for her over the past 4 months. One of the items I got for her was backordered and I sweated for 2 months until I got an email that it was available again last week. I’ll try to get some pictures up of our Christmas visits in Wise and Wilmington.

And now I am very sleepy and need to get some rest. I’m *still* sick but I am feeling a little bit better since I started taking some Omnicef. Strep pneumoniae for the lose. I will leave you with a brief funny story though. In the mall tonight, I saw a 9 year old kid walking around with a pair of lacy red panties on his head. He was giggling to himself and running around like a kid on meth! 10 seconds later I see a running frantic woman running after him yelling “Terry! Terry Christopher! You take that off your head RIGHT NOW and GET BACK HERE this INSTANT!!!” I just laughed! It sounds like something I would have done as a kid…but I think I just hid from my mom in the lingerie section of a Sears once. That’s an entirely different story altogether! Maybe I should write a book about my embarrassing stories. I swear I do something funny every week ;P

Good night my friends and have a very Merry Christmas! (none of that Happy Holidays crap here!)

Hail and well met friend! If you are a long time music fan, no introduction is needed. However, if you are new to World of Warcraft or just randomly surfed in from Google, my name is Richie Truxillo and I am finishing up my last year in medical school. I have been playing games since the age of 5 (I’m 28 now) and consider myself a well-accomplished casual gamer not a professional-level, gamer. I’m not that guy that raids Kara 24/7 or spends countless hours trying to be the world’s best PvPer.  I spend most of my free time with my beautiful wife

About 6 months ago I purchased Brian Kopp’s Alliance leveling guide for World of Warcraft. After browsing through all of the horribly bogus reviews on the internet, I figured I would write my own review to inform you all of how the guide really works. For those of you who are not inclined to read a boatload of text, the short version is: Yes, it is good! For the smart WoW consumers out there, read on to get the real scoop in its entirety. Keep in mind this is for Alliance players only. If you need a Horde Leveling guide, read this review first and apply the concepts to Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide. Her guide is just as good but with the added bonus of a video guide.

Why did *I* buy Brian Kopp’s guide

Well to level fast! DUH! Actually, at the time, my long time guild mates shot up to level 70 over a month’s time while I was stuck studying for my step II board exams. I wanted to be able to play with them again but I was stuck at level 61 at the time. So, really, I bought the guide just to level my paladin from 61-70. Instead, after purchasing the guide, I rerolled a hunter from scratch and took him from level 1 to 70 in 8.5 days /played with the guide. It would have taken me less time but I spent a bit of time AFK, playing on the AH and PvPing a bit at level 19. I also grouped a couple times for instances with some of my guildmates.

Purchasing the Guide

I bought my guide at the time for $35 from http://www.briankopp.com. Upon submitting my payment information, I was given a simple login and password. It gives you a link to a file named burningcrusade.zip. I scanned the file for viruses and keyloggers, it was clean. Inside of the zip file are 4 PDF files: A guide from Levels 1-60, a Level 60-70 guide, a guide to all the race starting areas (Levels 1-20) and instructions to install an awesome quest location map Addon.

First Impressions

The PDFs are massive and in full color (when pictures are inserted). Each PDF is indexed well with Tabs so you can easily go straight to a particular level range and zone. There is also an introductory area with links to other guides (with Brian’s Affiliate links included of course) and Interface Mods. Following that is a tips section which is a must read. One of the things he suggests in his guide is to make an alt character that is parked by the mailbox in your home city for the purpose of mailing and selling items to. I scoffed at this thought at first but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He also suggests binding at innkeepers along the way instead of your home town. I, again, scoffed at this idea but it saves SO much time, particularly in your first 40 levels when you do not have a mount and have to run everywhere on foot.

Printing the Guide Out

I strongly suggest you get this guide printed out and put in a binder. Of course, being the savvy medical student I am, I went into the hospital on night shift and printed out this 203 page behemoth on the laser printer. I hole-punched it into a binder I purchased from Wal-mart. GREAT! Why should you do this? Well, if you don’t you will be alt-tabbing back and forth between the game and the guide every 2 minutes. Plus you can make quick notes on the paper if you need to.

And now, the Guide…It’s all About Questing

The guide focuses on one thing, leading you from quest location to quest location. This may not sound like much to you but World of Warcraft is massive and has hundreds if not, thousands of quests. A common practice by most new players is to do every quest in a given zone before moving onto the next one. This is a concept that was started in games like Everquest where enemies were a certain level range in a given zone. World of Warcraft has multiple “zones” for a given level range. For example, Elwynn Forest and Dun Morough are both for characters in their level 1-15 ages. However you could theoretically do quests in both zones. Since quests pay out more items and gold than straight grinding through enemies, it makes sense to level using quests. An added bonus is being able to see content you may miss otherwise.

Another great thing about the guide is that doing quests raises your reputation levels with the various factions. If you are not familiar with World of Warcraft yet, then I should tell you that many of the items and quests in the end-game (read: level 70) require high amounts of reputation points. By following Brian Kopp’s Leveling Guide, I found my hunter had very little reputation grinding to do when it came to buying my level 60 epic mount. Why is that? Simply put, quests give you alot more reputation points with factions than just killing mobs.

Before leveling with the guide, you should install the map modification that comes with it. It uses Metamap to not only reveal every map in the game, but also put down every important quest location! Throughout the guide, he references these map points (called “Locs”) which correspond to X,Y coordinates on the map. If it sounds difficult and new to you, I assure you, it is not. When you mouse over a point of interest on your in-game map, the location number that corresponds with the loc in the guide pops up. It is a very elegant and user-friendly implementation. You can tell someone put ALOT of time into placing those points into the map mod.

Brian Kopp’s Guide provides a very logical path from quest to quest. He has you gather multiple quests at once and tackle them in a manner that is logical. For instance, in one portion of the guide, you will grab 6 quests at once in Darkshore. The guide will instruct you in such a manner that you complete the quests with the shortest route in mind. At the end of the 6 quests, you will turn them all in at once and grab another batch. The quests are also always level appropriate. I know this sounds easy but how he manages to do this over multiple zones is fluid and intuitive. I’ve had other guides that tell you to “Grind from levels 23-25 in this zone” but there is really no grinding in this guide at all.

The leveling guide keeps you informed by telling you when you should be a certain level. I guarantee you that if you have taken a night off from play at least twice, the rested experience you receive will ALWAYS keep you well ahead of the guide in terms of leveling. As such you never really have to worry about a quest being too high of a level for you, or running out quests to do for a particular level. With the leveling changes from levels 20-60 in the recent World of Warcraft 2.3 patch, all grinding has been taken out of the guide.

Where the guide truly shines is in the level 58-70 range. This is the portion of the guide where you will spend your game time doing quests in the Outlands (Burning Crusade expansion). Even with the increased leveling treadmill of the last ten levels, I found myself going from level 58-70 in just over 5 days /played.

Gold, Gold, Gold…but not what you think!

Let me get this out of the way right now. This is NOT a gold farming guide. However, I found that by following Brian’s Kopp’s Leveling Guide, I was able to afford all blue and purple ranged weapons for my hunter every 5 or 10 levels. The quest rewards are great and the professions that he encourages you to take really pay off big when it comes to selling in the Auction House. At level 40 I had well over 700 gold and at Level 60 I had both enough Darnassus reputation to buy a discounted epic cat mount and to buy a nice gun with 525 gold left over. The Burning Crusade quests mentioned in the guide kept me very well geared and allowed me to finish at level 70 with a whopping 2100 gold after selling my blue and purple drops on the AH. Enough to buy myself my riding skill and my first flying mount. My new warlock, Richus(Level 31), has just over a day /played and is very well geared for his level.

Those hard to see quests

There are a handful of collection quests that have some hard-to-see collectable quest items in the game world. The Outlands is especially guilty of having these collection quests. Brian Kopp’s guide has color photos of the hard-to-see quest items..which comes in handy when looking for items in the dirt. There was one quest in particular where I had to sprinkle holy water on some elven skeletons. I had skipped the quest on my paladin because, well, I couldn’t find em. Come to find out, using the guide, they were just on the sides of the main road but they were VERY VERY small. I had passed right over them many times before. It took me 45 seconds to finish the quest after I found em and I got 10,300 xp for it.

I also guarantee you, even if you have leveled to 70 on your own before, you will find quests in this guide that you have never done. I was shocked to see that wetlands and Ferelas actually had tons of quests in the guide. I was just looking in the wrong place before.

For Hunters only?

Brian Kopp’s guide has caught some criticism for being a hunter oriented guide. Let’s face it, the hunter is just an easy class to play. Although, I will admit having a pet really helped out in about 5 or 6 of the quests. However, you could easily skip those quests in the guide and continue as planned. Specializing your class correctly for leveling will help you immensely when battling it out through the quests. There are some good talent builds on the World of Warcraft forums. Thus far, I have had no problems with a Mage, Druid, Paladin and Warlock when specc’ed properly…all which are mid 30s.

Brian Kopp’s Website and Legality

If you are reading this review and have been to his website, the marketing may have deterred you from clicking the Buy button. Unfortunately, his website looks like one of the many affiliate spammer/infomercial websites you’d see trying to sell you crap. Just don’t read all the fluff…scroll down and click on Order Now. The claims are true. The Leveling guide is 100% legal and you will not get banned for using it. You are completely playing the game as intended while maximizing your time spent doing so.

My Final Thoughts

I was initially skeptical about the guide but after purchasing it 6 months ago, I still feel happy with my purchase. As he says in the website, Brian Kopp sends you updated versions of the guide about once a month. He was also very quick with updating the guide for the 2.3 patch, which tells me he plays on the test server before patches go live to the public. He has put alot of work into the guide and it is definitely worth the 35 bucks. It is way better than any official strategy guide you could buy. I hope this review has been somewhat helpful to you. Please click on one of the banners or the link below to buy Brian Kopp’s Leveling Guide if you are interested in leveling as fast (and legit) as possible!

Buy Brian Kopp’s Leveling Guide: Discounted Price of $35 (For Alliance players)

Buy Joana’s Leveling Guide: Price of $37 (For those who play Horde Characters)

Hey gang, been awhile since I updated this blog. I’m sitting at my parents house in Wilmington, NC writing this. I’m all over the place with residency interviews and the like. Right now, I am in pediatrics and buried up to my neck with work. I’ll keep adding to this post throughout the day but right now my car is being serviced and is ready for pick up Interviews have been going well thus far!

Ok a few days later but I am back.  Got new brakes and tires on the SUV now so I’m ready to brave the snow season here in WV.  I’m currently sick with some cold and gastroenteritis stuff.  I got me a steal of a deal on a collector’s edition Lord of the Rings Online box ( 9 bucks mhahaha) so I am now playing that.  It’s like World of Warcraft except with a storyline and a really really mature community.  It’s a nice change.  You can look me up on Brandywine if ya like….I know you all know the character name already

In the next couple weeks, I’m going to be redoing the layout of the site yet again with some updated photos of myself, since I have a goatee now…darn thing is I cannot find my camera the the moment so you’re going to have to hang on a bit.   But I’ve gained a bit of weight these past six months, 22lbs to be exact.  I bought a bowflex extreme last week though and have been working out on it.  I love the thing and have religiously kept up with the workouts (even when sick!) to stay on track.   I’ll keep you all updated.

Most people have a new years resolution to lose weight but mine is going to be to keep up with this website more!  Plus I have 75 pages of content to convert over from the old site still…. so much to do, so little motivation haha

Well, I am going to get off of here so I can sleep and get well so I don’t flunk out of my pediatrics rotation for falling asleep and then have to go on welfare and eat government cheese the rest of my life because I couldn’t pay my medical school loans back!

Peace out my friends and remember, DON’T DROP THE SOAP! (as said to me by one of the scrub techs the other day)

Well here I am at the end of week 3 at Charleston Area Medical Center.  I’ve been working my arse off.  This is the first day I’ve had completely off all rotation so I am enjoying it while I can.  I still have another week of hard work and reading ahead of me…hence why I have been slow with updates.

As for the survey below, my Patty is right on the money with the last post with the exception of a couple things ;)  First, she told me she loved me first haha (not that it matters though of course) and my feet are bigger and my shoes fit very comfortably!  The only exception are the crocs that I bought at the mall which are sized one size smaller!  Oh and our first night talking to each other, she suggested we should get together 6 hours later…I was half asleep on the phone at 3am hehe. ;)  I remember this because I slept a couple hours and began frantically cleaning my cluttered bachelor-like town house!

And for the record, I do suck at Laundry and dishes.  I can cook though at least… 

Anyway, guitar hero III just arrived and I haven’t even played it yet :(   Too much stuff to do between working on my residency application, drafting a prostate cancer research study and planning a wedding.  Sorry for the lack of updates lately, just got alot of irons in the fire.

Hope you all are well!  Much love —> Richie