It has been brought to my attention that my most recent blog entry, which I posted last Friday, was perhaps ill-timed considering that it was both a Friday and a national holiday. I acknowledge that the number of people excited to spend a portion of their day off reading a CMEpalooza-centric Declaration of Independence parody is likely minimal. However, I would argue that if one were to write a CMEpalooza-centric Declaration of Independence parody, the only day it should be posted is July 4. I regret nothing.

Furthermore, it has also been brought to my attention that there has been disagreement, if not outright disapproval, with some of the “additional” self-evident truths included at the end of the post. Apparently, there are some who believe that pineapple should be on pizza. There are some who think that David Lee Roth leaving Van Halen was not the nadir of civil society. There are even some who prefer more jelly than peanut butter on their PB&J. Heathens all. Once again, I regret nothing. In fact, here are a few more truths we hold to be self-evident, even though they have little to do with CMEpalooza:

• That dark chocolate is the best chocolate and white chocolate should be permanently banned
• That every college dorm room in the U.S. in the fall of 1991 was required to contain at least one (1) copy of Pearl Jam’s album Ten
• That the Wicked Witch of the West from the original Wizard of Oz still scares the everloving crap out of us
• That Frank Sinatra was the coolest
• That Charles in Charge was the worst show with the best theme song (note from Scott: I usually just shake my heads when Derek makes bold proclamations like this, but I must interject here, especially since Derek will soon lambast a different cast change. Charles in Charge actually dumped basically 75% of the cast after its first failed season since the original family was awful, with a very circumspect explanation of why a new family in the same house also needed a ‘manny.’ The second cast was much, much better and many episodes were entertaining. It was certainly a better show than Saved by the Bell, among others).
• That Fruit Stripe was the best gum with the shortest flavor life
• That if you were born in 1970, you were closer in time to the end of WWI (1918) than you were to today’s date
• That, after season 3 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, they swapped out one Aunt Viv for another Aunt Viv and tried to act like nothing happened, but we noticed. We noticed.
• That Dumb & Dumber was robbed of a Best Picture award in the 1994 Academy Awards
• That Prince’s performance at the 2007 Super Bowl was, is, and forever will be the greatest halftime show ever

Also, I updated the CMEpalooza archive with all the sessions from CMEpalooza Spring 2025. Whoopee.

 

 

 

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for two people to create an alternative means for educating individuals employed in the arena of continuous medical and healthcare education, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the creation of the palooza of CME.

We hold these three core CMEpalooza truths to be self-evident:

• That effective education should be fun
• That effective education should be easy to access
• That effective education should be free

We also hold these two coming soon CMEpalooza truths to be self-evident:

• That the CMEpalooza Fall agenda will be announced soon, hopefully by mid-July
• That we will update the CMEpalooza archive soon, hopefully before the CMEpalooza Fall agenda is announced

Lastly, we hold these next truths to be self-evident, even though they have little to do with CMEpalooza, but are equally important:

• That pineapple should not be on pizza
• That Han shot first
• That Coy and Vance Duke replacing Bo and Luke for season 5 of The Dukes of Hazzard in 1982 was an abomination that we will never speak of again
• That things have never been the same since David Lee Roth left Van Halen
• That the silver in the Dallas Cowboys helmets does not match the silver in their uniform pants
• That peanut butter should be the dominant ingredient in a PB&J
• That Pulp Fiction was robbed of a Best Picture award in the 1995 Academy Awards
• That Joan Jett did indeed love rock & roll
• That single malt Scotch should be served neat
• That Andie should have chosen Duckie over Blane
• That saying “go birds” as a response to anything and everything is still awesome

Thanks to everyone who participated in our most recent events – the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge last week and the CMEpalooza Scavenger Hunt during Wednesday’s live broadcasts. Here are the results:

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge
We had a nice group of participants and a first-time winner of the grand prize, which was nice to see (no offense to the winners from past years).

Before we move on to the winners, a very special thank you to Talem Health for sponsoring the STEPtacular Challenge, again.

And now…onto the winners!

Winners of the STEPtacular drawing: $50 Amazon gift card  (one entry for each daily screenshot showing over 10,000 steps)

1. Riaz Baxamusa, CHCP, FACEHP, MBA, Associate Director, IME Grants, Astellas Pharma
2. Amanda Glazar, PhD, CHCP, FACEHP, President, Alpine Group Consultants
3. Heather Rossi, PhD, Scientific Writer and Editor
4. Greg Salinas, PhD, FACEHP, President, CE Outcomes, LLC
5. Amanda Jamrogiewicz, CHCP, Senior Director, Educational Strategy, US HealthConnect, Inc.

Winner of $250 Amazon gift card for most steps in one day
Vanessa Gray, Director of Continuing Medical Education at Des Moines University, wins for the first time with 32,064 steps, which I think is appropriate since she narrowly lost out to Riaz Baxamusa during the last challenge in our closest competition ever. Congrats Vanessa!

CMEpalooza Scavenger Hunt
Nearly 150 people successfully spelunked on the website of our event sponsor, Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning, to find the “hidden” CMEpalooza logo. There were five winners chosen in our random prize drawing, each of whom will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Here are the lucky ones:

• Sandra Hannaford, Medical Editor, Vindico Medical Education
• Camille Ledoux, Science and Medical Writer
• Deborah Mitchell, CME Specialist, Northwestern Medicine
• Martha Russell, CHCP, Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, ASHP
• Jennifer Epler, Biomedical Writer and Editor

As a service to the CME community (and bored people everywhere), we asked each entrant what current show they were binge watching. Here were the most popular responses in case you are looking to try out something new this weekend:

• The Residence
• Severance
• White Lotus
• The Pitt
• Bosch: Legacy
• Love on the Spectrum
• Black Mirror
• Paradise
• The Last of Us