Category Archives: Modesto

Modesto’s Jon Olsen Brings Home the Gold Medal in International 24 hour Race in the Netherlands

NEWS FROM STEENBERGEN, NETHERLANDS 5/12/13 – blog by Calvin Lee

Jon Olsen ran 167.568 miles in 24 hours.

You thought a Marathon was long?

jon olsen from Modesto with american flag winner of the 24 hour race in Netherlands

Victory for Jon Olsen, USA after running 24 hours.

Modesto’s Jon Olsen won the International Association of Ultrarunners 24-Hour World championships. Representing the USA, Mr. Olsen ran 167.568 miles taking the lead by 4 miles. Reading reports of the race, the weather conditions were challenging which included rain and hail which pelted the runners throughout the night. Individually Mr. Olsen won, and as a team, the men’s USA team won as well. Each team was composed of six runners, and each team’s top three distances were combined for the team score.

He writes before the race:

As blessed as I am physically to run, I’m even more blessed with the amount of loving people that God has surrounded me with. All I can do is say thank you and represent Modesto and the Red White and Blue to the best of my ability. Thank you once again!

He writes after the race:

Sorry I haven’t posted anything but between the drug test, awards ceremony, the nap, shower, dinner, and packing for my flight that leaves early enough my alarm is going off at 6am…I have had little time. Let me quickly sum up the race and you can read about it in the Modesto Bee Tuesday.

It was hands down the toughest race of my life. I race a nearly perfect race.(that includes eating the right foods and putting on the correct clothing when the weather got bad) I ran all but ten yards in the middle of the race and two minutes to end the race. The crowds were amazingly supportive and I was treated like a rock star. It was a “Jon Olsen love fest” on steroids:) absolutely crazy! I want to thank everyone’s encouragement and support. You all own a piece of this victory…thank you! I’m heading to bed now:)

Doing the Math

We should be practicing some math, especially since Mr. Olsen is a math teacher. He is a Math Teacher at Prescott Junior High School, in Modesto, CA. Jon Olsen ran 167.568 miles based on a timing chip for his 24 hour race. Calculations reveal:

Average speed of 6.98 miles per hour for 24 hours
Average pace of 8:35.6 min/mile for 24 hours

How does Jon Olsen’s measure up to American Records?

He now holds the second place American record behind Florida’s Mike Morton who ran 172.457 set in 2012. Less than 5 miles away from Jon’s winning distance.

Other Ultramarathon records

You can see a list of ultramarathon record accomplishments around the world and Jon Olsen is listed on there more than once.

Link to Ultramarathon records

Top Results of the Other Competitors at this Race

Men
1. Jon Olsen, 38, Modesto, CA, 167.568 miles
2. John Dennis, 32, Takoma Park, MD, 163.255
3. Florian Reus, 29, DEU, 161.518
4. Anatoly Kruglicov, 55, RUS, 159.717
5. Timur Ponomarev, 24, RUS, 159.484

Women
1. Mami Kudo, 49, JPN, 156.712 miles
2. Sabrina Little, 26, Waco, TX, 152.030 (American Record, old record 149.368 miles by Connie Gardner, 2012)
3. Suzanna Bon, 48, Sonoma, CA, 146.785
4. Traci Falbo, 40, Charlestown, IN, 142.730
5. Anne-Marie Vernet, 45, FRA, 142.538

We’re honored to know Jon Olsen,
once again proving excellence from Modesto, CA

He has won the Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon twice, and is a coach for the Teens Run Modesto program. And we’re certainly proud to have Jon Olsen in Modesto. He’s a great role model for all of us, in our quest for hard work and excellence. He is also proof to us that anything can be done at the highest level in Modesto. This means a lot to us as we set out to continue our excellence in plastic surgery and acupuncture. He’s one of the great things about Modesto.

jon olsen surgical artistry modesto marathon 2013 captivating photos

Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon March 24, 2013. Jon Olsen’s picture by Captivating Photos, in Modesto, CA, USA.

Cleaning Solar Panels Adds At Least 10% More Electricity

Solar Panels in Modesto, CA

How much improvement do we get from Cleaning Solar Panels, in Modesto, CA?

Let’s see, here’s a graph from the day before cleaning to the day after cleaning:
(May 7, 2013)

washed solar panel graph between one day and the next

You see a nice difference between these two days, but perhaps it might be unfair it might have been a cloudy day before cleaning.

So let’s take a look at several days before and several days after cleaning of the solar panels

This is a graph showing 4 days before and 4 days after

Four days before cleaning and 4 days after cleaning

Dirty vs. Clean Solar Panels. 4 days before and 4 days after washing. There is a 26.7% difference in my case here with washing!!

But I think there’s a better way to measure, taking the two best days of the 4 days before and the two best days of the 4 days afterwards, the difference comes out to 13.3% difference. I think two days before washing the solar panels, the skies were a bit cloudy. My conclusion so far is that washing the solar panels will increase output by 10% or more.

How much electricity does my solar panels produce in one day?

Let’s take one day in the solar energy/electricity graph above. Thursday, May 9th. They produced 61.3 kWh’s of electricity.

Let’s see 61.3 kWh’s = 61,300 watts hours so in terms of 100 watt light bulbs, you could run 613 of them for 1 hour. How does that sound?? Or I did another calculation… You could drive a TESLA electric sports car at 55 miles per hour for about 240 miles with that kind of electricity. Or if I did the calculation properly, you could run a 1200 watt hair dryer for 51 hours. Disclaimer: My calculations are approximate, not exact. Plus I don’t do calculations like this professionally.

I think it’s worthwhile to have the extra 10%+ of electricity especially on the higher producing electricity days.

How is this relevant to Plastic Surgery / Cosmetic Surgery

This very important to plastic surgery! We use energy based devices such as lasers for aesthetic purposes. Understanding power, electricity, kWh, Joules, are all important aspects of understanding how to work with lasers.

kWh = kilowatt hour = a unit of energy equal to 1000 watt hours or 3.6 megajoules.
1 kWh = 3600 kJ
J = Joule is a unit of energy. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of 21 meter.
1 Watt = a measure of power = 1 Joule per second. (W = J/s)

Lasers At Surgical Artistry

At Surgical Artistry, we have the Dornier 940 diode laser from Germany for spider veins and for endoluminal ablation of refluxing veins, it does measurements in Joules/cm2. Meaning about of energy applied to a square cm2 area. I’m always looking at these settings carefully when performing vein procedures.
I’ve always enjoyed physics, not just these formulas. Perhaps it runs in my family, as there are several physics professionals in my family. But there’s a whole field on the physics of electricity, energy, and lasers. And all this info is worth reviewing for physicians who work with lasers and other energy sources.
We may consider consider getting other lasers at Surgical Artistry in the future. Stay tuned. Contact us for more info if needed (209) 551-1888. www.SurgeryToday.com

Conclusions

Conclusion from the above experiment of cleaning the solar panels and measuring output before and afterwards? We have confounding issues of weather conditions ie. clouds. I think it is safe to say that there would be at least a 10% improvement. My measurements show 26% improvement by comparing 4 days before washing and 4 days after washing the solar panels. Then my comparison showed a 13% improvement taking the 2 best days of the 4 days before and comparing with the 2 best days 4 days after washing.
And yes, doing experiments like this is useful for me in my continued medical education.

Picture of me harnessing the power of the sun

Brilliant Distinctions Changes – Botox, Juvederm, Latisse

Recent Changes to the Brilliant Distinctions Program

Update: See updated section on the bottom – info directly from Allergan and the changes start May 15, 2013.

I heard some things about changes to the Brilliant Distinctions Program by our Botox Representative (from Allergan). I’m not 100% sure of these changes, as I don’t operate the Brilliant Distinctions program (BD), but of course, our plastic surgery practice accepts the coupons and rebates generated from the BD program.

SkinMedica – get points for purchasing

Allergan acquired SkinMedica – a skin care product company – prescription and non-prescription based products. You can now earn points for purchasing SkinMedica products. Our office currently does not carry Skin Medica products. I guess I wished it could have been easier / great if Obagi was somehow absorbed by Allergan, because we are a Obagi retailer and a user of Allergan products. But that merger didn’t happen. Instead Valeant purchased Obagi for $348 million dollars in April 2013.. Valeant is based in Montreal. Valeant has a dermatology portfolio. Obagi is based in Long Beach, California, and posted revenues of $120 million in the year 2012. Valeant Pharmaceuticals in September 2012 purchased Medicis for 2.6 billion. Medicis makes Dysport, Perlane, and Restylane.
Around December 2012 Allergan purchased SkinMedica for $350 million

New Brilliant Distinctions Mall

Get points for shopping online
Similar to a program offered by Chase.
Many many vendors online, and shop as you normally would except click through a link from the Brilliant Distinctions website.

Bonus points are going away

As fast as it came, it is going away: There was a bonus points program for the frequent users, in fact after about 12 visit, the bonus points added up to almost double the original amount which was originally $25 coupon after each Botox visit, and for those coming in on the 13th time and beyond, the $25 coupon got a bonus of another $25. However this is bonus is going away I heard.

The $25 coupon per Botox visit or $25 per Juvederm syringe is dropping down to $20

I also heard that the $25 is dropping down to $20. But the added ability to earn points from the BD Mall is supposed to more than make up for this difference. I’d like to know if this works out for folks in the future. Regardless, it is nice to have a program such as BD, so I guess we shouldn’t complain too much about the $25 dropping down to $20.

There’s the ability to print out a $10 coupon

This wasn’t available before. I think this is to help the Latisse-only users use their coupons, because Latisse purchases used to take longer to build up to a coupon.

I just checked with several patients today regarding Brilliant Distinctions. Most of these changes have taken place yet, but I know they are coming very soon – perhaps at the end of this month (May, 2013).

These changes the program summarized:

SkinMedica
BD Mall
Bonus Points going away
$25 return on each visit or each syringe is going down to $20
New!, ability to print out $10 coupon (half of the points required to print a $20 coupon).
New 9 month expiration period instead of I think it was 2 years before.

We’ll stay tuned and see how these changes take place and hopefully they will continue to keep our Botox / Juvederm / Latisse patients happy.

Surgical Artistry | Calvin Lee, MD | Tammy Wu, MD
209-551-1888 | www.SurgeryToday.com
2336 Sylvan Ave. Suite C | Modesto, CA 95355

UPDATE:

We got this notice from Brilliant Distinctions.

Starting May 15, 2013:

Points Values: In simplifying the points structure, the values will alter slightly. We’ve added a new coupon value. You can now create a $10 coupon for 100 points. For 200 points, the coupon value will now be $20.

Expiration Period: Points will expire after 9 months of inactivity from earning. We will send you reminders if you are getting close to your points expiring.

Bonus Points: All bonus points accrued to date will remain in your account; however, no more bonus points will be issued. If you have questions, the Brilliant Distinctions® Customer Support line is a phone call away: 1-888-324-2745 (9am-8pm EST. M-F).

Summary: See summary above also. But there are some great added features ($10 coupon, BD mall, SkinMedical) and some things taken away (bonus points, $5 taken away from 200 points, and the expiration period ahs been shortened)

Graceada Park, Modesto, CA

Address for Graceada Park

401 Needham St., Modesto, CA 95354

A bit about Graceada Park

There is street parking around the park.
Located downtown Modesto.
There is a half dome amphitheater – Mancini Bowl
Modesto’s oldest city park, developed in 1907
Designed by John McClaren, the designer of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco
Graceada and Enslen Parks were designed as one park.
Names come from the first names of the wives of the families that donated the land for the park: Grace Beard and Ada Wisecarver. Enslen park was named for the Enslen family who donated the land to that portion.
Tennis courts are present.

the day that I visited the park, an Indian Festival (Holi festival of colors) was going on in the park and required admission which was $20. I was told that the food was catered from San Francisco.

Holi Festival of Colors 2013

Date: April 28, 2013, Sunday, Graceada Park.

Celebrates the coming of spring, commemorated good harvests and fertile land. With the colors, it signifies, the colors of spring. And the color is actually powder. I think this is where the color runs got their idea. It was a great fun to see this and take part in this. There were many doctors at this event, and it was good to see them relax and get a balanced life. It was very educational for me to experience this custom, and I feel a closer connection to my patients who are Indian / Hindus. Plus it was very educational for me to figure out how to get the colors out of clothing, camera bag, sneakers, etc.

Pictures from Graceada Park, Modesto, CA on that day

It was a very sunny day and most of us sat in the shade for sun protection, and had our suncreens / sunblocks on. And if we had a hat, it got totally pelted with colored powder.

IMG_4795 - charles crop

Above has a picture of me and the color stuck on my face has a great way of hiding my double chin – even better than plastic surgery! Well, at least for that moment and for that picture.

When not throwing colored powder around we are at work at Surgical Artistry which is located in the Village One “Northern” area of Modesto. Interestingly, Graceada park was considered in Northern Modesto at the time when it was developed. Now it is “down town” in the southern part of Modesto. I had always spelled “Graceda” incorrectly. There is actually spelled Graceada.

Surgical Artistry

2336 Sylvan Ave. Suite C, Modesto, CA – next to post office on Sylvan Ave.
(209) 551-1888. www.SurgeryToday.com

Metronidazole Topical for Rosacea?

This is a note-taking blog for purposes of education – not for specific directed medical advice.

Metronidazole is a treatment available for Rosacea

Topical application of Metronidazole (meanning applied to the skin surface)
Metronidazole also comes as a pill form but this isn’t usually needed or indicated for Rosacea
Metronidazole is an antibiotic
Flagyl is the name a brand of metronidazole in pill form
As an antibiotic, Metronidazole is effective against anaerobic bacteria and protozoa. It is a drug used for treating clostridium difficile infection (c. diff).
Topically, it comes as cream or gel
Metrogel is a brand (Metrogel 1%) as is Rozex. And there are generics available for metronidazole gel or cream.
Many patients use metronidazole topical twice a day
Many patients of ours at Surgical Artistry, Modesto, report some dryness with the product and use it with a moisturizer.

Other uses of Metronidazole

Orally it has been used in Crohn’s disease
And orally, it has been used as part of the treatment for peptic ulcer disease

Obagi Rosaclear

a system designed by Obagi Medical for treatment of Rosacea
Metronidazole topical is part of the kit,
available as part of the rosaclear kit is a cleanser, toner, and a special tinted sunblock

What is Rosacea?

Some forms of it seems to be a skin infection which is related to blood vessel dilation and redness
Central facial redness, burning and stinging
visible red veins
bumps or blemishes
tight or itchy facial skin which may swell
Cause is unknown

What can our office in Modesto, do for Rosacea?

There are many treatments available for Roscea

We have Rosaclear available from Obagi
We have many Rosclear Sunscreen – tinted specially to hide and blend in the redness.
We have a vascular laser (Dornier 940, Germany) which is good for targeting the red vessels.
For some patients we can also prescribe clindamycin topical for rosacea