We have a greyhound named Bardot. A popular myth about greyhounds is that they are high-energy dogs that need tons of exercise. That is false. While they are super fast, they are also incredibly lazy. They are the world’s fastest couch potatoes. They are basically just giant cats. Whenever I take Bardot for a walk, there is usually an initial burst of enthusiasm, but it quickly degrades into an annoyingly slow pace with frequent stops to sniff anything and everything of interest. Needless to say, this gives me plenty of time to listen to podcasts.

Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast while walking Bardot that included a Gen-X host and a Millennial interviewee. The Gen-Xer made a joke about Millennials, to which the Millennial responded, “You guys used to put tinfoil on your rabbit ear antennas because you thought it improved the reception.”

“Hey!” I thought to myself, “We used to put tinfoil on our rabbit ears. What does he mean by ‘thought it improved the reception?’”

When I returned home, I did a quick google search for “does tinfoil on rabbit ears help” and…it does not. This is embarrassing.

Until the age of 12, I lived in the southern part of Delaware, affectionately referred to as “slower lower.” My Grandpa Warnick and Aunt Mary Kathryn still lived on the farm where my dad grew up, and we would frequently spend our Saturdays there helping out with various chores (picking lima beans, baling hay, tending animals, etc.) Once the work was done, we would all gather in the family room of the farmhouse for dinner. Since there wasn’t a table big enough for everyone to sit at, we usually would just spread throughout the room and eat off of TV trays. (note from Scott: Derek should explain here what a “TV tray” is since it is another Gen-X relic. It’s basically a standup version of an airplane tray table. It’s only slightly better than eating off your lap)

On the TV, we would watch NASCAR (We rooted for Bobby Allison [he was a Christian man] and frowned at Richard Petty [he cussed and smoked cigars]. I am not making any of this up.), The Lawrence Welk Show, and Hee Haw, often in that order. To this day, I was certain the only reason we got any kind of TV reception in that part of the country was because Grandpa Warnick had the foresight to cover the tips of the TV antenna with tin foil. I have been living a lie for 40 years.

My very first job in CME was at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in the early 2000s. The Internet was advancing beyond its toddler phase, and more and more organizations–TJU included–were adapting on the fly to utilize this untapped resource. One of my first big projects at TJU was to turn our CME webpage from nonexistent to useful for our learners. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job with it, but I definitely had a couple tinfoil-on-the-antenna ideas that, in hindsight, were not nearly as helpful as I thought they would be at the time.

For instance, I thought it would be an amazing idea if we recorded all of our grand rounds sessions and posted the raw video on our website for people to watch. It was not. I also thought that people would love sitting in front of their desktop computers reading 15-20 page journal articles in PDF format instead of settling into a comfy chair with a hardcopy journal in hand. They did not.

The funny thing is, it’s 20 years later and I am still seeing these types of antiquated CME programs. Live symposia that are recorded and converted into online programs with little additional formatting. Journal articles or monographs that are posted online in big blocks of text or not optimized for mobile devices. While the intent is valid, there is little actual value added.

If you ever find yourself stuck in a rut with CME program design and needing a spark to modernize, may I humbly suggest that you head on over to the CMEpalooza Archive? (note from Scott: Did anyone else read on and on and on wondering what the heck this all has to do with CMEpalooza? I’m glad Derek finally got here — well, sort of glad). We have an entire section of the archive that focuses specifically on educational design, with more than 40 different sessions to choose from, all free. Hopefully you can find something there that will help you get rid of the tinfoil and throw away the rabbit ears for good.

A 100% accurate, not-at-all-made-up text exchange between Scott and I.

Derek: OK, the CMEpalooza Fall agenda is in pretty good shape. We still have a couple sessions that will need some updating over the next few weeks, but we can at least give everyone a pretty good idea of what to expect. I think we can go ahead and release it tomorrow. What do you think?

Scott: 

Derek: Hello? Anyone there?

Scott:

Derek: Hello? Scott? You there? Kind of important. Could use your opinion.

Scott: Sorry, sorry. Cell reception is a little spotty here in Italy.

Derek: Wait, what? Italy? What the heck are you doing in Italy? It’s agenda release time! No vacations, remember? We’re all supposed to be focused on the agenda — no distractions.

Scott: No, no, it’s all good. I’m totally focused on the agenda. I’ve been thinking about it all day. Look, here’s a picture my wife took of me deep in thought.

 

 

 

 

Derek: That is a picture of Pierce Brosnan drinking a glass of wine.

Scott: No, it’s me thinking about the agenda in Italy. A common mistake, though. People get us mixed up all the time. (note from Scott: just like people commonly confuse Derek with Patrick Dempsey. We all have our cross to bear)

Derek: Right. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the CMEpalooza Fall agenda? OK to send it out tomorrow?

Scott: I think the agenda is as fine as the glass of pinot grigio I am sipping in that picture.

Derek: Super. I’ll handle it from here. Go back to your deep thinking/wine sipping.

Scott: You got this, buddy!

While Scott is out touring around Italy, I’m here to announce the working agenda for CMEpalooza Fall 2024, There are still a few details needed to round out the final agenda, but you can see that we have tried to put together a program with a little something for everyone. We have traditional topics, original topics, and mystery topics. We have old TV shows (This is Your Life), old music (The Clash), and old party games (spin the bottle). We have old faces, new faces, and faces yet to be determined.

Though you may be distracted this morning by watching the hammer throw, sabre fencing, canoe slalom, or whatever Summer Olympic events are currently on, please take a moment to check out the Fall agenda and mark it on your calendar. We’ll see you on Wednesday, October 16!

 

The definition of gallivanting is “to visit or go to a lot of different places, enjoying yourself and not worrying about other things you should be doing.” The definition of traipsing is “to walk or move wearily or reluctantly.” I bring this to your attention because in last week’s blog post, Scott wrote that I spent the first part of July “…traipsing through the countryside of Ireland where the thermometer never cracked 65 degrees.”

This is incorrect. I was not traipsing. I was definitely gallivanting through the countryside (and cityside) of Ireland, enjoying myself and not worrying about other things that I should be doing. My wife, as usual, planned out an amazing agenda, which, as usual, she shared with me as a read-only Google doc. I’ve learned not to take it personally when she does this. It’s not like I would dare make any edits to the itinerary anyway.

As I was gallivanting around Ireland, I made note of several things that I found myself asking, why don’t we have this here? (by “here” I mean “the U.S.”) Here are a few examples: (please note that I realize that half of these examples are pub-related, and it’s only half because I held back other pub-related examples. This perhaps gives you an idea of what a good amount of my gallivanting consisted of. I’ll also note that some of these are not necessarily specific to Ireland and can also be found in the U.K. and other part of Europe. You get my point, though.)

Lager. But Derek, you are probably thinking to yourself, we have lager in the U.S. True, but not lager like this. In my neck of the woods, if you walk into a bar and ask for a lager, you are going to get a Yuengling Traditional Lager. It is amber colored and, how should I put this…not good. Order a lager in Ireland (or England., Scotland, etc.) and you get something light, bubbly, frothy, and delicious. It’s delightful!

Toasties. A toastie is basically just a grilled sandwich. Grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese, tuna melt (true story: I had four tuna melts during my trip. I regret nothing.), etc. They’re basically a less pretentious panini. Yes, we have grilled sandwiches here, but toastie is more fun to say and in Ireland they are ubiquitous. You can walk into any pub and order some kind of a toastie and it will be great.

Hurling. No, not the kind of hurling you might do after having too many lagers and toasties at the pub. I’m talking about the sport of hurling. Have you watched this? I barely understand the rules or the scoring, but it looks to me like a cross between field hockey, lacrosse, and mixed-martial arts. It’s great fun to watch and I may have booed the bartender at the Hairy Lemon when he switched the TV from hurling to rugby. How will I know if Donegal won??

Whimsy. One of the places we stayed during our trip was the charming seaside town of Carlingford. In addition to beautiful views, hikes, and great pubs, Carlingford is also home to Ireland’s last remaining Leprechaun whisperer and, conveniently, the last living Leprechauns (there are 236). There is a cute little Leprechaun themed park which is very sweet and endearing. You can’t help but smile when you are there. We need more things like this in the world.

My sister is a college anatomy and physiology professor, and sometimes when she is telling me about different things she is doing with her class, I find myself asking, why don’t we have this here? (by “here” I mean “CME.”) There are so many different educators out there working in so many different fields, it seems a little silly to me that we don’t tap into more of these resources to find out what else is out there. We try to make an effort at doing this with CMEpalooza,, and you will hear from some new voices in the Fall agenda, but one thing we could do a better job of is busting outside of our CME bubble to find faculty from other areas. I would love to hear from anyone who might have good suggestions.

We hope to have an update for the CMEpalooza Fall agenda by the end of the month. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for some place in Philadelphia where I can have a decent lager and toastie while watching hurling with a Leprechaun.