May 7, 2008

Malt-O-Memories

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I’m sitting here chewing a homemade chocolate chip cookie. Now, I love oatmeal. I do. I know there are those who prefer Malt-O-Meal. And I can’t say that I blame them. I spent many a wintry morning waiting with my brother Michael for the school bus at the end of a long, frozen-mudded farm driveway with woolen mittens on our hands, crocheted scarves on our throats and Malt-O-Meal warmed stomachs as we stamped our snowmobile boots to the rhythmic beat of “where’s that goddamned bus?” So it might as well be called Malt-O-Memories (which would be one hell of an ad campaign. You add “remember the goodness” to the packaging and you reinvent the product) And it must be chocolate. (Plain Malt-O-Meal? Isn’t that called farina or something like that? I never quite knew what farina was … I just remember seeing it in a Mad Magazine which is an entirely different topic that I’ll end here.) Anyway, Malt-O-Meal as a cookie? I think not.

February 14, 2007

© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 7, 2008

Unparalleled

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Should that be copyrighted?

February 17, 2007

© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 7, 2008

Endowments

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Lately, I’ve thought about endowments. As parents we make emotional endowments. We endow our children with love and compassion while they are too young to reciprocate. It’s not that we love with expectations, but we subconsciously believe that one day our love will be returned. As teachers we make educational endowments by providing the seeds of useful information for sagacious decision-making. As philanthropists we make financial endowments to causes or to companies. We believe. We hope. We ensure. As patients we make physical endowments for our healthcare. Our habitual behaviors dictate our healthcare needs.

But what about intellectual endowments? Should we offer our thoughts and our discoveries and our knowledge and our wisdom for the benefit of causes or companies without expected compensation? And will they be accepted as a gift? And in that same vein … why hasn’t our society embraced the notion of intellectual endowments? The concept of an intellectual endowment should be embraced. Its time has come.

February 18, 2007

© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 7, 2008

Minding My Own Business

Posted by Mark Trost under February 2007 | Tags: , , |
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Ok. So I needed new business cards and I went to Kinko’s. They are entirely too expensive. So in a burst of creativity I’ve created the cards myself! On the top I have a card that I found on the web. Yes, it’s someone else’s card. I tried to cleverly disguise this fact. I feel I was unsuccessful. But practice makes perfect. On the bottom is also someone else’s card. I photoshopped it. Ok. Pretty damn good. Feel free to print it and pass it around the crowds.

February 21, 2007

© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 7, 2008

Banking On An Interested Party

Posted by Mark Trost under February 2007 | Tags: , |
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Here’s what I’m saying. I went to a branch of my bank this morning. (For you Hamish Macbeth buffs think Ron Howard.) They were closed. It was 8:13 am. What I’m saying is that I expect a bank not to keep banker’s hours. I expect the lobby to be open (8-6) and staffed with cheery souls. Ok; they don’t even have to be cheerful. I want more than warm-blooded but I require less than enthusiastic. And they don’t have to be open on a Sunday. Who am I to deny them a day off like the rest of us?

Look. I’m not a curmudgeon. I’ve never been a grouch. It’s just that I needed more from my bank than a ATM could provide this morning. I needed more from my bank than online banking could offer this morning. It’s just that sometimes you need a bank that keeps more than an average interest in your money matters. Ok. That should be a slogan for a financial company. “Keeping your financial concerns in our best interest.” Or even “We keep an above average interest in your money matters.” Either way, my bank didn’t need a new sign this morning. They had one on the glass door: closed.

February 28, 2007

© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 6, 2008

Trauma Ties: Mind + Body

Posted by Mark Trost under March 2007 | Tags: , , |
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I had a conversation the other day with a medical resident about the nature of trauma from a patient’s point of view. I think the mingling of shock & symptom comes as no surprise to anyone who treats or experiences trauma. And although I’ve never treated trauma and have only experienced it, I was surprised I felt both quite acutely and astounded that I felt an equally intense degree of shame & humiliation.

I think when one is facing an emergency room doctor and is required to explain the habitual behavior or the humiliating experience or the accidental occurrence that resulted in the visit, the complete lack of control coupled with the acute sense of shame that the patient feels is stunning to his senses. And that’s why recovery and rehabilitation takes so much effort. I had to heal myself physically and change habitually concurrently rediscovering dignity and reincorporating self-respect. And this isn’t an endorsement of holistic medicine. I’m an advocate of conventional medicine. Nothing heals the body with more entirety. The heart and the soul and the mind aren’t its responsibility. It’s ours.

* I offered this ad as an intellectual endowment to HealthPartners. They began an expansion and the ad addressed the issue of the relocation of the emergency room entrance. They passed. I don’t know why. It’s definitive.

March 4, 2007
© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

May 6, 2008

I Have A Head For Advertising

Posted by Mark Trost under March 2007 | Tags: , , |
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I offered this as an intellectual endowment to the HealthPartners Otolaryngology Department because I think Derek J. Schmidt, MD is one of the greatest guys.

March 10, 2007
© 2007-2008 Mark R Trost
 

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