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Dr. Val’s Inaugural Photos

January 20th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements

Tags: 2009, AHIP, Inaugural Parade Photos, Inauguration, Inauguration Photos, Party, Personal, President Obama

Today I live-blogged the inauguration via Twitter. Thanks for all of you who followed my personal anecdotes and to those who felt it was TMI, sorry. I chatted about everything from Susan Sarandon’s Visine addiction, to police security instructions, to a near fight that broke out in a group of cold and frustrated people who weren’t allowed onto the parade route. And best of all, I speculated as to whether there may be an official “inaugural pooper scooper” to clean up after the horses in the parade.

I promised the folks on Twitter that I’d have photos on my blog later today. So here they are. Photo 1 was taken of me and my “peeps” in our parade perch at 601 Pennsylvania Avenue (thank you, AHIP). The rest are pretty self explanatory. It was a really fun and momentous occasion.

Grand Rounds 5:18 Is Up — At MedPageToday

January 20th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements

Tags: Dr. Val Jones, Grand Rounds 5:18, MedPageToday

The weekly summary of the best of the health blogosphere is ready for your reading at MedPageToday. It’s dedicated to healthcare reform.

Grand Rounds 5:18: Ten Suggestions For Healthcare Reform

I’m this edition’s author, just hosting it on MedPageToday’s platform – please excuse the formatting.

Head on over and read it.

Next week’s Grand Rounds will be hosted by Chronic Babe.

Having A Ball: Kentucky Style

January 19th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements

Tags: Barack Obama, Bibb Lettuce, Bluegrass Ball, Dr. Val Jones, Gwen Mayes, Kentucky, Kentucky Ball, Kentucy Inaugural Ball, Makers Mark, Personal

I’m writing this post mostly to embarrass my girlfriend Gwen Mayes, but also because I’m mentally exhausted from preparing Grand Rounds for publication tomorrow, and thought I’d engage in some frivolity.

Gwen and her friend Scott are pictured here en route to the Kentucky Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC. Most states are hosting their own celebratory ball tonight – and Kentucky’s Bluegrass Ball won an “Editor’s Pick” from the Washington Post. It’s one of the largest and best balls, and I suppose that makes sense if one assumes that southerners do this kind of thing well (I lived in Texas for four years, so I’m allowed to joke about that).

The Bluegrass Ball has some predictable highlights, including the “Kentucky Bourbon Trail” sponsored by the Kentucky Distillers Association, and a guest list that includes everyone from Governor Steven Beshear and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to the band “Joey and the Cruisers.” What I did not expect, however, was that the caterer for the event would import “720 heads of Bibb lettuce” as part of a “Kentucky-friendly menu.” I soon learned that Bibb lettuce was first cultivated in Kentucky by Jack Bibb in the late 19th Century. Am I the only person who didn’t know this?

I’ll be attending a few events on Pennsylvania Avenue tomorrow during the inauguration day parade. Gwen and Scott will be spending the night at my place – and I can only hope that they bring me back a goodie bag filled with Kentucky goodness – especially the Bibb lettuce.

Addendum: My friends make a b-line for the Maker’s Mark booth…

And here they are horsing around:

And no, they didn’t bring me any Bibb lettuce back from the ball (dang it)… just a floral arrangement they picked up from some guy in the subway who was returning home from the Indiana Ball. Oh… and some Maker’s Mark.

Last Call For Grand Rounds Submissions – Inaugural Edition

January 18th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements

Tags: Call For Submissions, Dr. Val Jones, Grand Rounds, Grand Rounds 5:18, Inaugural, MedPageToday

Grand Rounds Edition 5:18, January 20th – Call For Submissions

January 13th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Medblogger Shout Outs

Tags: Barack Obama, Best Of The Medical Blogosphere, Better Health, Dr. Val Jones, Grand Rounds, Grand Rounds 5:18, Health Care Reform, Healthcare reform, Inauguration, January 20th, Medical Blogs, MedPageToday, Tom Daschle, Weekly Summary, www.getbetterhealthc.om

Dr. Val is hosting the historic inauguration day Grand Rounds at MedPageToday. Please send your submissions to this email address: valjonesmd AT gmail dot com. Put “Grand Rounds Submission” in your email title and please use this format for the body of your email:

1. Post title
2. Post url
3. Short description of the post
4. Blog title
5. Blog url

Although I have never done a themed Grand Rounds before, it would be terribly remiss of me not to acknowledge healthcare reform on the very inauguration day of our new President, Barack Obama. So please send me your best posts about the change you’d like to see in healthcare. If we do a really great job of this, maybe Tom Daschle will take a looksie? Don’t laugh, but DC is a small world – I share a hair stylist with Tom’s wife, Linda!

Please send me your submissions by midnight, ET, Sunday January 18th. I will include all submissions, but will give more weight to those that are about healthcare reform.

For those of you who are reading this and wondering what on earth I’m talking about – please read about Grand Rounds here. It’s the weekly summary of the best blog posts from the medical blogosphere.

My inaugural Grand Rounds will be published at MedPageToday at 8am, Tuesday, January 20th. (This link will work from that time on). I hope that we’ll reach an unprecedented number of readers on this platform.

I look forward to receiving your submissions!

Warmest Regards,

Val

P.S. Please enjoy Barbara Kivowitz’s Grand Rounds this week – it has a Sci Fi theme! The January 27th edition of Grand Rounds will be hosted by: Chronic Babe.