Scott's Spiel

I’ll be the first to admit the iPhone and Gmail don’t work overly well (using the iPhone’s Mail app). A bit of digging though and you’ll find the ideal way to set up Gmail on the iPhone.

The problem I’ve been having is with messages I want archived. Using the delete function on the iPhone certainly gets them archived but also adds a silly “Deleted Messages” label to it. I like control over my labels and this was a bit annoying.

Update – See ross71521’s comment below for a slightly more effective solution, although mine still works

The solution: On the iPhone go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> {Your Gmail account} -> Advanced -> Deleted Mailbox. I set my Deleted Mailbox to All Mail (on the server) and the labels are no more.

Not noticed any bugs with this but let me know if there’s something I’ve missed.

Many people are now considering using WordPress as a content management system (CMS). While that is not what WordPress was originally designed for, it can be an excellent CMS if used properly.

One of the problems for those trying to set up a CMS with WordPress is to try and have the URLs make sense. Imagine having a site with a root install (WordPress) and also wanting a forum (in /forum say). It wouldn’t make much sense to have links for blog posts coming from the root but yet having to go through a folder for a forum. At least, it doesn’t make much sense to me.

What I wanted to do was separate blog posts from the rest of WordPress. We want WordPress to run the whole show but we need to make the actual blog look like a separate entity.

As it turns out, this is rather simple. The permalink features of WordPress can sort it all out. To set this up you’ll need everything mentioned in the Codex Permalinks article.

On the permalinks screen, select the structure of your choice. A numerical indicator is recommended at least somewhere. You should have some content in the Custom Structure box by selecting one of the default options. Simply modify this to include the “subfolder” you want your blog to live (something like /blog/ would make sense, no?). You should be left with something like this: Simply Save and your blog will now appear as if it is in a subdirectory. Much more logistical. Pages are unaffected by this change so you can add pages to your CMS to your hearts content. I’ve found this works well, although plugins may be affected.

Would be interested if anyone has done this differently.

For my 21st birthday last week (which I forgot to blog about) the plan is to get a car. Particularly useful since I’m now going into 4th year and for my first (proper) block I’ll need to be at Inverclyde frequently. I also kind of need it for work at the weekend. Managed to get completely soaked on Sunday in the supposed summer weather.

Unfortunately, finding a car isn’t as simple as it should be. Conditions are:

• Under £1k
• Ideally under 100k miles
• Ideally not much older than 10 years
• MOT with a good few months left
• Not French (no offence, they’re just rubbish cars)
• Within about 40 miles from here

I’ve got August to try and find one, seen a few that I quite the look of but aren’t great. Hopefully I’ll get one soon, will get some nice pics of it for here when I do.

It will soon be the end of my elective and I will be returning home for the month of August. As such, I’ll be looking at filling my time hopefully by gaining a bit of money in the process. This basically means I’m looking to do a bit of work for around a months duration (obviously it can be less).

The types of things I’d be keen to get involved with include:

• General web programming (PHP/MySQL mainly)
• WordPress based sites (looking at anything from plugins, modifications or SEO improvements)
• Web hosting companies (support over sales ideally, live and/or ticket)
• Computer hardware repair/upgrade/builds
• Computer software installations/clean ups
• At a push – any phlebotomy work

The first 3 I would be happy dealing with anyone around the globe although I’m limited to the English language. The bottom 3 are more location specific, I’m based in Stirling, Scotland and I wouldn’t be too keen to travel far for these.

I have written up some information regarding previous experience in these areas, which I would suggest reading.

Anyone interest should contact me at scott@scott-h.com. Anyone who would prefer to call me, drop me an email and we’ll see what we can arrange.

Back in April I was booked in to go on a helicopter trip over the Forth Bridges in Edinburgh. Since that was unfortunately cancelled I ended up going last Saturday. Took quite a few pictures, some of my favourites being the following.

It was quite a smooth ride overall. It went rather quick as well. Certainly felt like a small child again and I was quite lucky to get such a nice day for it. Well recommended but I’d suggest going for something a bit longer.

See the full album.

I’m now into my second week of my A&E elective. So far I’ve seen a nice mix of things from painful hands, shoulders, ribs, knees, ankles and feet to COPD, DVTs, falls, chest and abdo pain to a cardiac arrest we were sadly unable to resuscitate. Quite a lot for just over a week of starting.

Last week was particularly warm outside but despite this the heating remained on for reasons that escape me. This turned the department into a sauna and I was struggling to cope. Now that we’re back to rain, the heating has been turned off and I’m almost feeling cold!

The attitude from staff has been excellent, everyone is happy for us to get involved. I’ve had the chance to practice some cannulation and blood gases. I’ve also done a fair number of venepuncture but this doesn’t quite excite me to the same extent. Indeed for the start of this week I’ll be working as a phleb from 7-9am and then in A&E from 9 till 4ish pm. Quite a long day! To top it off I plan to cycle in on those days so I should be fairly fit by the end of this (and shattered!).

The hospital is one of the few with a helicopter landing pad. Twice now I have been out with the brightly coloured jacket to receive the patient. As yet none has been terribly serious and I’ve just been happy to familiarise myself with procedures. It is probably only a matter of time though before we get something a little bit scary coming in and it’ll be interesting to see how it’s managed. I have take two of my own helicopter trip this Saturday which I’m looking forward to.

I plan on spending the Saturday night in the department to see what the infamous Glasgow population can get up to. That also happens to be T in the Park weekend (which I’m sadly not attending) so maybe it’ll be a little more tame than normal. We’ll see.

Apparently I find out on July 1st what’s happening intercalated wise.

Or not – today in fact:

Due to the high number of applications this year your ranking is such
that we are unable to offer you your first or second choices on the BSc
(Med Sci) Clinical Medicine.

Here comes 4th year!

A bit shocked but I also kind of expected it. My grades were not exactly brilliant and that is what they generally go on.

I passed!

Apparently I find out on July 1st what’s happening intercalated wise.

I was, as always, excited at the prospect of another Apple keynote (even without Steve Jobs) yesterday. I was really hoping for some new iPhone hardware with some of those rumoured price cuts.

I was pretty pleased then when I heard the iPhone 3Gs announcement and even more pleased with the price drop of the current iPhone 3G down to $99.

This didn’t last long though when I found out how much of this price cut O2 will be passing on – a whole £2.

Not impressed, I want an iPhone but nothing has really changed following the keynote. Sigh.

Guardian Tech – which has been running an excellent WWDC coverage – has this wonderful reply from O2:

…you’re not going to find a better deal anywhere else.

Funny that, considering they are the only (real) carrier in the UK.

It’s the end of day 4 of my first week in intensive care and intensive is a pretty good summary.

Generally the days have consisted of me turning up around 9am (earlier than that is pushing it) and joining the ward round. This lasts a variable length of time usually finishing by around 11am with a plan for all the patients on the unit. The rest of the morning is spent following up on any tasks needing done with a break for lunch slotted in somewhere. Early afternoon a rather brisker round takes place to catch up on any developments and again tasks from these are dealt with.

Typically around this time there seems to be something happening elsewhere in the hospital which needs attention such as a transfer into the unit or someone wanting advice.

Today’s highlight was my ability to bleed a patient on a general ward that neither the FY1 or Reg could find a vein on. Finding somewhere to put a cannula was a bit more awkward, it finally ended up on a thumb – thankfully by the anaesthetist and not me!

I’m certainly enjoying the week so far, probably far more than if I were doing an SSM from a set list. I’m hoping to try, by the end of my stint in ITU, to get a good grip of how to cope with a patient going poorly. This seems to be a struggling point for FY1s so hopefully my time now will actually help in the future.

After this I will have only 2 SSMs (and another elective) left to pick things like this. I was considering doing some more of anaesthesia/critical care but I’m now thinking that wouldn’t really help me. Will be a tough decision over doing something sounding interesting or something that’ll be useful (not that they are mutually exclusive…).