Card Manipulation...

So I've decided to take part in learning some very basic card manipulation. Since I had a couple of dead decks lying around, I decided to practice. Apparently I'm not as bad at back-palming cards as I thought, and I have a decent palm as well.

More importantly, I've been studying deck manipulation via Andrei Jikh's DVD, Genesis. I've learned some really cool cuts (here they are! Charlier cut, thumb cut, scissor cut, revolver cut, angel move, widthwise triangle, lengthwise triangel). I'm currently stuck on a nightmarish move, the one-handed shuffle. But either way, I've developed much better small motor movements in my left hand (since in deck manipulation you use your opposite hand). The practice is almost addicting!

Also, some of my decks got ruined randomly. Need a deck press and a couple new Bikes.

And so research begins....

...good thing I kept most of my material and papers from the last time I did research. I'm still working in the ortho department because I really liked the staff and I like studying muscles/bones. The engineering aspect combined with medicine, surgery, and biology is pretty cool stuff.

Last time, my research entailed using plates over a bone tumor resection filled with "bone cement". Now, instead of making a hole and filling it, we are cutting out the entire piece of bone that had the tumor, and adding a full, adjustable length prosthesis as opposed to just a plate for support.

It's just unfortunate that the surgery size is so small (4, I think).

Oh, and I finally got a new pack of red fan-backed Tally Ho playing cards. I've used Bicycle playing cards for the longest time (as most people do), but Tally Ho's are more expensive and harder to come by. But, as I recommend to everyone, if you ever see them, get them over Bikes. They are simply better thanks to the linoid coating that lets them last much longer and fan twice as nicely. Well worth the investment.