On Wednesday night, my beloved Philadelphia 76ers played the despised Miami Heat in a one-game playoff as part of the NBA Play-in Tournament (if you don’t know what that is, I’m not going to bother to explain it to you. I tried to give my wife an overview of the Play-in Tournament last night, and the more I talked, the more confused she looked.)

It was an ugly, physical game, with the 76ers struggling to execute on offense and falling behind by 14 points. As usual, I handled it poorly. At different points in the game, I:

• Switched the TV to the Phillies game (they won, yay!)
• Left the TV room to walk around downstairs muttering to myself
• Texted my son, “Maybe they can beat Chicago” (their likely next opponent if they lost the game)
• Told my wife that we could watch something else (she was not watching the game with me. I had to go downstairs and interrupt her from whatever she was doing and inform her that we could watch something else. She did not take me up on my offer.)
• Turned the TV off entirely and swore I wasn’t going to watch anymore, while constantly glancing at the score on my phone
• Finally settled on turning the game back on, but with the volume off

Despite all of my inanity, the Sixers were actually fighting back and keeping the game close, which made it even that much more painful to watch as every possession was agonizingly crucial. At one point, a friend texted me, “This is exciting!” to which I responded, “This is awful.”

I love sports!

(Epilogue: Our story has a happy ending as the good guys pulled out a one-point victory and I spent the next two hours trying to calm down enough to go to bed.)

I have the same sort of love/hate relationship with running. I’ve run a few 5Ks, 10Ks, and half marathons over the years and every time I have those two dueling thoughts: This is exciting/This is awful. Fortunately, distance running — or running of any kind — is not required to participate in the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge. You can walk or run as fast or slow as you like.

Let this serve as your reminder that the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge ends Sunday. Click here for all the details.

Good luck, and happy stepping!

no need to worry
palooza haiku won’t end
blog titles are hard

a quick reminder
CMEpalooza Spring
April 24

one more reminder
STEPtacular Challenge ends
April 21

9 AM ET — Amplifying Learning: Did You Hear an Echo?

did you hear an ech-
-o?…(o?…o?…o?…o?…o?…o?)
join us and find out

10 AM ET — 2024: A Challenging Year for the CME Enterprise?

CLE conflict,
budgets down, data needs up
CME drama

11 AM ET — Wait Wait… Do Tell Me!

sadly you can’t get
Carl Kasell’s voice on your home
answering machine

Noon ET — Navigating AI Integration in Continuing Medical Education: A Strategic Approach

this will be better
than that bad A.I. film with
the kid from Sixth Sense

1 PM ET — Extrapolations: ABCs and V (Approaches, Benefits, Cautions, and Validity) 

a session on the
validation foundation
extrapolation

2 PM ET — Two Sides of the Same Coin: Provider and Commercial Supporter Perspectives on Common Challenges and Opportunities in Industry Supported CME

perspective is when
you say to-MAH-to and then
explain why you do

3 PM ET — Be Curious, Not Judgmental of Your Data

oh! Roy Kent! Roy Kent!
He’s here! He’s there! He’s every-
palooza-spring-where!

4 PM ET – Behind the Scenes with CME: Enhancing Learner Engagement with Dynamic Design & Activated and Inclusive Digital Spaces

you’re in for a treat
an exclusive backstage pass
Taylor Swift can’t get

Sponsors

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Gold

Haymarket Med Ed
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sibling rivalry?

old friend MLG
always glad to have you back
sorry I said old

Projects In Knowledge
not Projects In Ignorance
that would be stupid

Silver

from the Philly burbs
Academic CME
rides silver again

it’s hard making a
Clinical Education
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the only pharma
in our stable of sponsors
Daiichi Sankyo

Dean Beals makes bean deals
for mean seals who love green meals
DKBmed rhyme

no solar eclipse
can block this silver sponsor
shine on Healio

you’ll never go wrong
working with Integrity
something to ponder

twenty CE pros
trapped in a locked escape room
it’s The Great Medscape

few people know this
PlatformQ is PlatformO
sticking out its tongue

It’s no great revelation that my all-time favorite comic strip is Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson. I’d be willing to bet that a quick poll of U.S.-based Gen-X’ers would show C&H as the favorite for a large percentage of my generation. (note from Scott: I’ll go Family Circus, but I’m not really a comic strip guy)

My old C&H anthologies were happily passed down to my kids, and they still have a place of prominence on my son’s bookshelf.

Taking it one step farther, this is my absolute favorite C&H moment:

That last line — “From now on, I’ll connect the dots my own way” — has resonated with me in a way that few things have. It would be silly to call it my life philosophy, but, it’s kind of my life philosophy. I’ll put it this way — there wouldn’t be a CMEpalooza if I hadn’t decided that from now on, I’ll connect the dots my own way.

Fortunately, Scott also views life through a similar scope. (note from Scott: Some look at the glass and say it’s half full. Some look at the glass and say it’s half empty. I look at it and say, “Somewhere, there has to be another glass”). When Eric from Talem Health approached us about sponsoring a CMEpalooza virtual 5K run, we both agreed we would rather do something a little different. Thus birthed the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge.

In honor of continuing to connect the dots our own way, we are proud to announce the fourth iteration of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge starting today! What is the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, you ask? Allow me to explain.

• The challenge begins today (April 15) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday (April 21)
• The challenge is to record at least 10,000 steps in one day. For each day during the challenge period that you record 10,000 steps, please send in a screenshot of your step-counting device with the number of recorded steps, either by email (thecmeguy@gmail.com) or text (267-666-0CME [0263]). Please include the following information:
  • Screenshot of number of steps
  • Date of steps
  • Name
  • Email
  • Physical mailing address
• For each day you achieve 10,000 steps and send in a screenshot, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card (there are five gift cards; you cannot win more than one.) Winners will be drawn during the week of CMEpalooza Spring. You can send in each day individually or you can send them all in at once at the end. It doesn’t matter to me.
• The person who records and submits the most steps in one day wins a $250 Amazon gift card. Last fall, I implemented The Jamro Rule in honor of two-time CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge winner Amanda Jamrogiewicz. This time, I am updating the name to The Jamro & Riaz Rule, which states that the winners of the two previous Challenges are ineligible to win the grand prize this spring. That gives the rest of you a chance to win (no offense, but both of them beat y’all by a lot the past two times. I mean, a lot.)
• Everyone who enters even one day will receive some CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge merch from Talem Health. We’re still finalizing what it will be.

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by: