Timely Response

The publisher for the Pediatric PT book actually responded to me and is offering to send me a new edition of the book. Check out this e-mail I received today:

Thank you very much for your feedback regarding Pediatric Physical Therapy. Since the book's publication in 1998, this is the first we have been made aware of these blatant grammatical and spelling errors, and I appreciate your attention to detail. With the help of conscientious readers like you, we are able to correct our mistakes and publish the best books possible.

We are currently working on a new edition of this text due to publish before the end of this year. I'd like to have a copy of that book sent to you at no charge, if you'd be able to send us the best mailing address. For this new edition, we will have our copyeditors pay much closer attention now that we know they sure missed a few things in the previous edition. Thanks very much for your email,

Pete

Another Book Review/Rant

Firstly I would just like to say I am very frustrated in general and do not want it to spill over to important things like my education. One of the things that was bothering me was the mistakes I noticed in one of my required texts: Pediatric Physical Therapy, 3rd Ed. (Tecklin, 1999). Firstly this book is 8 years old and there has been no newer release to correct the mistakes I have noticed in only the first 40 pages (I am sure there are many more to come). I paid nearly $60.00 for this text and feel that I was ripped off. A publishing company like Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins should be ashamed for never acknowledging these mistakes and I assume printing this for the last 8 years. I assume not many others have been as bothered by these mistakes or not noticed them, but I have and I decided to write an e-mail, because that's about all I am able to do at this time. Ultimately I am upset about this because I feel things like this reflect poorly on our profession. This is a major text used in PT and for there to be these kinds of mistakes (keep in mind only in the first 40 pages) is just unprofessional. I ain't no english major but sheesh...
Below is the e-mail that I sent to orders@lww.com because that was the closest thing I could find to an actual chance to provide this kind of feedback to them (a.k.a. their site was not user friendly for leaving feedback)...

Greetings,
I have recently purchased your textbook Pediatric Physical Therapy, 3rd Ed. I paid $56.39 through amazon.com as this was the least expensive I could find it for.
After only reading the first 40 pages I am already very dissapointed in the text. I feel outraged that these simple mistakes have been in this text for the last 8 years with no newer printed version to correct them. The following is the list of mistakes that I have noted on the first 40 pages:

• p. 6 - the word "result" is spelled incorrectly as "rsult"
• p. 8 - the word "life" is clearly out of context and should be "lift": "The newborn infant, able to lif e the head only momentarily..."
• p. 10 - the sentence reads: "The ability of the baby to lift is upper chest off the supporting surface..." The word is should either be "his" or "its"
• p. 12-13 - the paragraph under the heading "THE SUPINE POSITION" is repeated as the end of the last paragraph under that same heading on p. 13: "Although the infant does not consistently... and neck are precursors to the abiltity to roll". If this is done to emphasize this sentence/paragraph, I do not see the point.
• p. 22 - Simple plural confusion: "Antigravity controls begin s with lifting..." One of these two words should not be pluralized so as to read "Antigravity control begins with lifting..." or "Antigravity control s begin with lifting..."
• p. 32 - There is a blatant mistake here as "sensitivity is defined as the ability of the test to able to identify those who actually have a disorder" and "specificity is defined as the ability of a test to identify those who do not have the disorder." Perhaps my education has steered me wrong in regards to this topic, but I was taught that SNNOUT - a test high in SeNsitivity with a Negative result can rule OUT a disorder and SPPIN - a test high in SPecificity with a Positive result can rule IN a disorder.

Please justify to me how these errors have gone uncorrected for this long a period of time with no newer printing of the book. With the price that we as students end up paying for these texts it is very upsetting to see these kinds of mistakes. Furthermore, it makes it very difficult to take pride in the profession I have chosen when the attention to detail is lacking in a major text of the Physical Therapy profession.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Follow Up on "The Truth"

As a follow up to the post, I sent the below text to Authorhouse (publishers of "PT The Truth") via their user friendly website (compared to Lippincott):

I recently purchased your book "Physical Therapy The Truth: by Monie Phillips, PT. Firstly, I feel the book was overpriced at $28.00 for only 100 pages of content. Secondly, I was amazed at the blatant errors in content. While there were no misspelled words, there were an amazing amount of words that were out of place or simply incorrect. Examples include the "About the Author" section where it states that "He graduated FORM the U. of Miss... [he] was born in Jackson Mississippi WERE he met... his wife...". Clearly the capitalized words should be "from" and "where." On p. 57 in speaking about the outpatient setting: "This setting is WERE the real art...," once again the word "where" should replace were. On p. 46 there are two such errors: "THEY lazy nurses can bring an entire...," "they" should probably be "the," also "it is time to delve OF into..." the word "of" should clearly be "off." The following page (47) has the line "Lying flat OF your back all day...," "of" should clearly be "on." I could go on for a much longer time than any of us would care for, but in the end this is a grave injustice to anyone who purchased this book, such as myself, and moreso to the Physical Therapy profession that is trying to establish itself in the medical community. While this is not a major setback, any lay person reading a book about PT may lose some respect at the unprofessional manner in which this is presented. If I were to turn this text into any of my professors I would not receive a grade greater than a B-. I feel the publishing of a book with such mistakes is irresponsible and not fair to the consumer or the profession that this book represents. Thank you for your time and attention to this manner.

Book Review

While I have a million other things to read, I came across this book before I started classes and finished it at the beginning of my classes, just getting the review out now... It was a pretty disappointing book from what I expected (and paid)... The following is my Amazon review:

Firstly, for $28 the 100 page book is short on content. Mr. Phillips did come off as very informal including lines such as "blowing sunshine up his skirt". I am a second year student in a three year doctorate of PT program and did not find it very helpful for the present or future. It is always good to hear others experiences, but one can get this same content from speaking with any professor or seasoned PT.
The single worst part of the book for me was the lack of proof reading. Perhaps everyone did not have this in their copy, but reading the book I noticed no misspellings but many misplaced words. Examples include "He graduated FORM the U. of Mississippi Medical Center... WERE he met his [wife]," obviously one should graduate FROM an institution and that is WHERE he meets his wife...
This was not just an isolated incident on one page or two, this was consistent throughout the book. Another example was: "If a therapist knows that HER or she has..." every time it should have been "he or she" it said "her or she". Assuming I did not get the one bad book that was like this, I think this is a big blow to the profession that we are trying to establish. This book is one of the few PT related non-text books available out there thus making it more likely a lay person would pick it up. In a time when the public image of our profession is very important, the lack of attention to detail presents as very unprofessional. If Mr. Phillips had handed this book in as a paper to my current professors or even my middle school teachers he would already lose a letter grade or two simply because of his lack of attention. I of course can assume Mr. Phillips is not to blame as more often that not there is an editor, but as he says "the rehabilitation therapists... are usually perfectionists... have a great deal of pride in their work. The thought of failure is not an option." While he has not failed, it certainly is far from perfect.

Studying (plus bonus OP article)

Article first: Here is a link to an interesting article about osteoporosis. I like these lines in particular:

Everything that gets worse with age gets better with exercise," Trela says. "Exercising can increase 'healthspan,' not just lifespan. It makes people more energetic, alert, and flexible. People who exercise have less incidence of injury and are able to enjoy leisure activities better."

Study-blog second:

A vital aspect of PT is knowing the laws and regulations that our practice is responsible for. One class I am taking is Pediatric Diagnosis and Management and thus we have covered PT in Public Schools. Here is a list of some of the laws that apply to this area of practice and other interesting links (most information derived from Tecklin, JS, Pediatric PT, 3rd Ed., Lippincott, Inc. 1999):

President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (formerly the President's Committee on Mental Retardation)

- Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - mandates that no program receiving federal moneys would discriminate on the basis of handicap. Section 504 was of note because of it's direct implications on ensuring students with disabilities receiving appropriate education.
- 1975 - Education for All Handicapped Children's Act (Public Law [PL] 94-142) - provided for a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) for all children aged 5-21. PL 94-142 had numerous concepts within it including:

• zero reject (no child was to be excluded - different from no child left behind)
• least restrictive environment (includes mainstreaming or inclusion and has recently been termed "natural environment")
• parent participation
• nondiscriminatory evaluation (free from racial or cultural bias, test should be available for administration in child's native language)
• individualized education program (IEP) - comprehensive plan for each specific child created by a multidisciplinary team

- 1986, Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments (PL 99-457). Part B expanded PL 94-142 to include preschool children aged 3-5. It further specified the population as those "who are experiencing developmental delays... in one or more areas." Part H outlined early intervention services for infants and toddlers showing need for these services.

- 1988, The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act (PL 100-360) - Medicare's attempts at contributing to the related service needs of children as outlined in an IEP or IFSP.

- 1992, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (PL 101-336). Major impact was the provision that ALL public buildings must be accessible.

- 1993 (originally 1988), The Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act (Tech Act). Required public schools to acquire assistive technology deemed necessary for improving the functional capabilities of children with disabilities in that school.

- 1997 Reauthorization of IDEA (see the following description of the 1991 act: 1991, PL 94-142 and PL 99-457 were "reauthorized and amended" as PL 102-119 - the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments (IDEA). This included provisions for numerous other issues such as nutrition, family ed., home and community integration, assistive technology. Under Part H the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) was outlined for infants and toddlers.

That's all for now... more to come later... hope you learned something (or reviewed it)

Recent News of Interest

Grocery Stores Aim to Help Consumers Reach the Peak of Food Pyramid

In an effort to help consumers "scale the US food pyramid," grocery manufacturers and food producers launched a national campaign last week to help consumers follow the government's healthy-diet advice, says an article in The Washington Post.

Called "Take a Peak," the program highlights food and beverages that meet the latest federal guidelines for healthy eating and activity. About 2,000 grocery stores in 17 states are slated to roll out the program this year. Consumers will find aisle banners, kiosks, and other displays in stores that will help point them to items that are consistent with the dietary guidelines. For example, signs will remind shoppers how many servings of whole grains to eat daily (three) and then show the foods that equal a single serving.

The effort comes in response to a widely perceived problem with the 2005 food pyramid, says the Post. The guidelines on which the pyramid is based were praised by nutrition and consumer groups, but the redesigned pyramid was criticized for having little accessibility other than on the Web. The campaign and its new displays will "help put the government's message in front of shoppers as they roll their carts down grocery aisles."

______________________________________________

APTA's Public Relations Efforts Get Physical Therapy in the News

As a result of its proactive and ongoing public relations efforts that promote PTs as the practitioners of choice for people with conditions that affect movement and function, APTA's Public Relations Department received requests for interviews from two large media outlets this week -- Reuters Inc and WTTG, Fox 5, in Washington DC.

On Wednesday, Fox 5 contacted APTA for information on a story about handbag safety. Patrice Winter, PT, MPT, MS, FAAOMPT, was interviewed in Washington, DC, and the story aired Wednesday evening at 5 pm and 10 pm. Fox 5 has posted an extended interview with Winter on its Web site at www.myfoxdc.com. (Click on Patrice Winter - Extended Interview under the Seen on TV tab on the right side of the homepage.)

The Fox 5 story was a result of APTA's Public Relations Department fielding a media request from Reuters Inc on Tuesday. A reporter called inquiring about the hazards of carrying large, heavy purses and asked to speak with a PT. William Case, PT, was interviewed for the story, which broke Tuesday evening.

______________________________________________

Site Watch

The Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness Web Site, www.50plus.org, offers information for people age 50 and older to help expand their awareness of and involvement in health and fitness activities and "get and keep people moving."

Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness (formerly Fifty-Plus Fitness Association) is a 26-year-old nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote an active lifestyle for older people. The group started at Stanford University as an outgrowth of medical research on the value of exercise for older persons. It currently has about 2,000 members across the United States. Fifty-Plus publishes a newsletter, distributes books and videos, and sponsors physical activity events for midlife and older adults. One upcoming activity is the Annual Fitness Weekend, March 10-11 at Stanford, in conjunction with the Bay Area Senior Games.

More piggybacking

This is the ultimate "reading" semester... lot of reading... so I had to take a blog break

I came across this news spot about virtual PT, check it out! Thanks again to the UBC Physio Info-blog for finding these great links.

Just to add to this great entry...
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
-Michelangelo
...Miss you dad...

Ortho Super PT Haters?

Now maybe I am a little sensitive about this issue, maybe a little naive, I realize I still have much to learn about many of these issues, but this article I read recently from the "orthosupersite" which is mainly an orthopaedist geared site was a little harsh on PT's.

In the article they bring about the issue of Physician Owned Physical Therapy Services (POPTS). This is when a PT is on the payroll of the Dr. In many states, even with direct access, it is required for a Dr. to refer a patient to PT "services". When the physician has a PT on his own staff one would have to argue that said physician is likely to refer to said PT. The problem with this of course is the "question of who is the primary beneficiary of physical therapy fees" and the patient losing their own right to choose the best PT for them (Here are the 5 main arguments against POPTS or the uglier name: referral for profit).

Before I go into specific points I would like to say the whole article's tone is very disrespectful to the education I am receiving and the Vision a majority of PT's have in being experts in neuro-musculoskeletal rehabilitation.

At one point the AAOS explained that prohibiting physical therapy services in physician offices could lower patient quality of care because orthopedic surgeons could no longer directly participate in the rehabilitation of their patients. Ortho. surgeons will always be able to participate in the rehab of their patients, generally their "direct" involvement is writing prescriptions for exercise, but removal of POPTS is not something trying to eliminate the surgeon from patient treatment by any means.

Another point I would like to clarify is that this is not the APTA's primary issues by any means. It certainly is of high regard and certain states, including NY, have this among their major priorities, but by no means is this taking all of our resources as the article implies.

I had a lot more to say on this article but time constraints leave me to end here. Read the article, get upset, and write to the AAOS, APTA or even your political representative to voice your opinion on this issue as it can be a major issues over the next few years.
Good night. Go Bears in the Super Bowl.

Survivor

I just came across a pretty amazing website... http://www.ericgalvezdpt.com/

This guy finished up PT school in 2003 and as a new therapist found out he had a golf ball sized brain tumor. He started to keep a log of his experiences and had them published in a book and there is a soundtrack to the book too, very unique and cool! The chapters of the book correlate to the songs on the soundtrack.
I will let you check out his site to get more of his story, but this is definetly worth a moment of your time. A great story to "keep on keepin' on". I wish you all the best Eric.

Random Thoughts

APTA members have given these three key reasons for belonging to the Association:

• protecting patients and our right to practice through advocacy efforts;
• ensuring the right to get paid appropriately for physical therapy services; and
• educating consumers about the value of physical therapy.

Transparency is a word that is being used a lot with PT and I am glad. Read more about what this means at this link.

Another interesting tid bit was from my time down in Florida... Driving around the Boynton Beach and Cape Coral areas, I noticed a whole lot of random "Chiropractor shops" in many mini-mall's all along the roadways. One went as far as advertising themselves as "Chiro-Express". These places must do well for themselves since there are so many, but how much quality health care can you really be getting from a place called "Chiro-Express". To compare, I only saw 2 PT clinics out on the streets (i.e. not in the hospital setting).

A mother of a soldier from Iraq sent me an e-mail in response to the "military PT" article I posted here recently. I wanted to thank her for her kind words and publicly wish safety and health for all of those fighting for our country.

Lastly for this post, the APTA has been spreading a video about "Avoid(ing) Video Gamer's Thumb" all over the internet, so I will post it here to help them out. (APTA Article about Video Gamer's Thumb)... ENJOY!

Lack of Creativity

Just posting an article from the Army about PT. Due to circumstances, PT's are able to do a lot more than here in the states. I have to credit the UBC Physio Info-blog for this find.

Jan 03, 2007
BY Spc. Joshua R. Ford
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

COB SPEICHER (Army News Service, Jan. 3, 2007) - Day in and day out, troops patrol the streets and countryside of Iraq for hours at a time; many carrying up to 100 pounds of gear. This excessive wear on the troops may lead to back or other injuries later in life.

Fortunately, physical therapy teams are now permanent and internal to each brigade combat team in the Army.

Capt. Andrew Contreras, brigade physical therapist, and Staff Sgt. Melinda Sanders, physical therapy noncommissioned officer, both with Company C, 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, make up the first brigade physical therapy team in the 82nd Abn. Div.

The two keep busy from constant travel to and from outlying forward operating bases throughout the 3rd BCT's area of operation in Salah ad Din Province.

Contreras and Sanders have treated over 1,500 patients - not including the Iraqis they have treated - since they first deployed in August.

"It is a lot easier for us to move around than it is to move people to see me," said Contreras. "So rather than me sit on Speicher, it's easier to jump on a convoy or catch a flight."

The team spends around 20 days a month traveling to provide relief to their patients by cracking necks, adjusting backs and putting bodies back into alignment. The treatment allows patients to function in spite of the uncomfortable gear, according to the physical therapy team.

Since the team has been reaching out to paratroopers, complaints about the body armor have been minimal, said Maj. Christian Meko, brigade surgeon for the 3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div.

"The most common injuries we see are back problems because of all the equipment we're wearing, the amount of time people are working, and the guys' living conditions (sleeping on cots)," said Contreras.

Other common injuries include ankle and knee problems caused by walking or running on uneven terrain and mounting and dismounting vehicles, and conducting night operations where vision is limited, according to the team.

So far, the physical therapy duo has treated ten to fifteen paratroopers who suffered from small-arms wounds and has kept them all in-country; whereas before, they would have to go miles away to Germany for treatment.

The Army's traveling physical therapy teams have been a fantastic addition to the brigades, said Meko. When paratroopers are injured, the medical team has been able to get them back to the fight a lot quicker.

"A lot of guys have been able to be treated here instead of having to be sent home, keeping combat strength in the battalions higher," said Meko.

"Before we got to the brigade, it would take guys eight to nine weeks to get back to duty, but with us here, it has gotten most patients back to duty in three weeks," said Contreras.

Two Old Articles

I was saving these in my e-mail and would like to share them with you lovely people...

The first is the APTA's testimony to the Medicaid commision on the benefits of PT. The second is an abstract from pubmed.gov of a study regarding Evidence Based Practice which is a key ingredient to what we as a profession want to accomplish. Enjoy.

Medicaid Commission Meets, APTA Testifies

Toby Long, PT, PhD, testified this week on the importance of access and coverage for physical therapist services at a meeting of the Medicaid Commission. Currently, physical therapy is classified as an "optional" rather than "mandatory" service. With states looking to save money in the program, APTA's testimony expressed concerns that "optional" services such as physical therapy may be excluded from coverage. APTA warned that excluding these services could lead to increased costs in institutionalized care, development of more severe health outcomes, or increased visits to hospitals.

Other APTA recommendations to the commission included standardizing documentation, improving access to durable medical equipment, and focusing on long-term care. The commission will report to Congress with recommendations for reforming the federal-state program.

Evidence based practice: a survey of physiotherapists' current practice.

• Iles R,
• Davidson M.

School of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University, Australia. r.iles@latrobe.edu.au

BACKGOUND AND PURPOSE: Evidence-based practice is the explicit use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients and is a concept of growing importance for physiotherapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate Australian physiotherapists' self-reported practice, skills and knowledge of evidence-based practice and to examine differences between recent and experienced graduates, physiotherapists with low and high levels of training and physiotherapists working in private practice and hospital settings. METHOD: A survey was sent to 230 physiotherapists working in hospitals and in private practice. One hundred and twenty-four were completed and returned. RESULTS: Although 69.4% of respondents said they frequently (at least monthly) read research literature, only 10.6%, 15.3% and 26.6% of respondents, respectively, searched PEDro, Cochrane and Medline or Cinahl databases frequently, and only 25.8% of respondents reported critically appraising research reports. Recent graduates rated their evidence-based practice skills more highly than more experienced graduates, but did not perform evidence-based practice tasks more often. Physiotherapists with higher levels of training rated their evidence-based practice skills more highly, were more likely to search databases and to understand a range of evidence-based practice terminology than those with lower levels of training. Private practice and hospital physiotherapists rated their evidence-based practice skills equally and performed most evidence-based practice activities with equal frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Respondents had a positive attitude toward evidence-based practice and the main barriers to evidence-based practice were time required to keep up to date, access to easily understandable summaries of evidence, journal access and lack of personal skills in searching and evaluating research evidence. Efforts to advance evidence-based practice in physiotherapy should focus on reducing these barriers.

Waste of Time

I tend to be a smart guy, but I just spent the past 2 1/2 hours entering 158 liaisons into msn hotmail contacts one at a time... quite tedious and quite unnecessary, I of course only realized this now, oh well...

Speaking of liaisons, being one is certainly not a waste of time. The main purpose of student and faculty liaisons is to be a bridge of communication between the Student Assembly board and the Students (become a member with this link). This is something good to put on your resume and if used properly is a great way to spread knowledge about the goings-on in the ever so dynamic world of PT. I realize that as a student PT/PTA you have a whole lot to focus on just based on your studies. Then there is a ton of literature delivered to all APTA members such as:

• PT journal
• PT magazine
  
• Student E-News
• Student Assembly Pulse
  
• Possible APTA section magazines such as the JOSPT (only one of 18 sections)
• Some sections then have SIG newsletters
• Some states that newsletters (check out the Empire State Newsletter)
• Some states have district newsletters, e.g. NY has the Brooklyn/Staten Island district
  
• We are starting a newsletter for the NY Student Special Interest Group
  
• If you wanted to you could subscribe for free to Advance for PT's & PTA's among other publications...
• Or join a seperate specialty group such as AAOMPT
• The TriAlliance of Health and Rehabilitation Professionals
  
• The Student Health Alliance
• All of the online resources to read, some of which you can see linked on the right of this page
• This vital student PT blog!!!

I am probably forgetting a few (I of course didn't include text books or the board review book because that's too academic). But there is so much going on in this field that it is real hard to keep up unless you devote a great deal of time like I do. Is it worth it... for me it is, because I love knowing all the possibilities for my future. Motions that are getting passed today will affect me as a student and as a future practitioner so I feel it is vital to stay up on as much of it as possible.

One goal of mine in the various roles I have attained is to aid in the construction of a guide to all of the above resources. It is my greatest frustration to talk to very bright and eager students who just have not been exposed to various ideas and resources from the APTA. One that really gets me is when non-APTA members say they do not join because it is so expensive... what they have not been exposed to is the fact that since the APTA is a professional organization it is tax deductible (82% on national dues and 87% on NY chapter dues [each state likely varies])...

I am going to do what I can, if you want to join me in spreading or gaining some knowledge contact me and we can get the ball rolling.

Books

We recently received our book list for the spring and our tuition bill... a time i call the money drain... still looking for a new place to live... waiting to hear about a job that can influence the course of the next few months significantly... and of course none of that matters since the jets ended their freakin season today :(

So now I am a little excited about getting these textbooks to take my mind off this bitter loss to a "rival" that has dominated that battle... I always get excited about new books because they are always so packed with potential learning which is big for me, but then I start reading and very few authors of text books are able to capture my imagination. The most recent one that was able to was Stephen Goldberg with his book Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple. This is similar to that series of Complete Idiot Guide's except this is a series for med students (which has a lot of carryover to PT). I only wish that this Neuroanatomy book was in my possession about a year ago, but I will certainly get a great deal of use out of this book.

In the tradition of my hometown Brooklyn Dodgers, I will have to "Wait Till Next Year" when it comes to the J-E-T-S...

Piggyback

Just having read the EIM blog I wanted to share a website they dicussed in their post today...

This is a website promoting a diabetes medication that can cure the disease. It is actually a teaching tool of the FTC to warn consumers about being skeptical about products online and the marvelous claims one can find here.

This further goes with the notion of Evidence Based Practice that the APTA is pushing as part of VISION 2020. The medical field is ever so dynamic that new research is always happening and the results of the research has to be interpreted very thoroughly. Always look for peer-reviewed articles when trying to rely on any kind of research claims.

That'll be it for now peoples... if you are in the Northeast right now, try to avoid the outside as it is pretty gray and depressing out there... gray skies are gonna clear up...

VISION 2007

I am losing readers every day I do not post so I had to get this in before my head hit the pillow...

HAPPY 2007 EVERYONE!

There is a lot of possibilities with a new year, a lot of resolutions that probably won't be kept. But I always resolve to allow myself to make resolutions throughout the whole year. Just because it's going to be May 3 doesn't mean we can't re-evaluate our goals...

My resolutions include losing the 10 pounds I gained in the last 10 days I spend in Florida... Studying more so as to reach my full academic potential...
...not putting three dots... in between thoughts...
that's one I won't keep...
start training for the 2008 NYC marathon... we shall see how that goes...
make as much of an impact as I can as a member of the nom com of the Student Assembly and as chair of the NYSSIG
find a place to live that does not also house my immediate family, darn privatization of my old apartment!
hmmm, I am sure there are a lot more but I need a whole lot of beauty sleep

hope you have a better list of resolutions than I do, and hope everyone has a great 2007, I plan to :-D

all the best, nothing but love, bo