Apparently uber-cute but troubled Reese Witherspoon will be starring in a comedy about a drug rep who will likely become "enlightened" to the evils of big pharma. While I like Reese in her comedy roles, it will be interesting to see if this is actually funny or more Hollywood anti-corporate America drivel. Is Michael Moore still alive? Will he have a cameo?
Full story.

Thank God baseball season is back! Like a lot of our physician members I begin counting the days to Spring Ball the minute the last pitch of the World Series was tossed in October. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration....but I am a huge fan of the game.

Now, if you combine America's love of baseball with it's obsession over the iPhone computing platform, you get some really slick baseball apps. Enter the newest app from Zumobi...a "Microsoft spin-out" according to John Cook. Read about the new app on his post: Hey, batter, batter:' Zumobi creates MLB iPhone app .

If you love the subtleties of baseball, the constant chess game and statistical analysis, then iPhone baseball apps are a must for you.

P.S. Jay Cutler is a punk!

In between meetings in Denver today we had the chance to try the Elway's restaurant downtown. To be frank, I can't remember a restaurant named after a sports figure worth a damn...so I was very hesitant to waste the time and money on Elway's. The reason Elway's gets a mention on this blog is because they exceeded the expectations of each person in our party and I would give the restaurant an unqualified recommendation to any of our physician members.

The atmosphere at the downtown restaurant (there is another location in Cherry Creek) was warm and interesting starting with the dramatic entry way. (picture the back jersey of John Elway in a framed picture at the end of a dark hall with water running along the walk. The only thing missing was suspenseful theme music. The combinations of wood, light, glass and water elements throughout the place were very well put together. Even the "wine room" decorative wall was well done.

As for the food, it was lunch...so we didn't partake of the full steak fare. Instead we had steak sandwiches, salads, great bread and interesting home-made potato chips. I would actually stack the steak sandwich up against just about any I have had before.

We'll be back for the full dinner experience.

Nicely done Number 7.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting the team behind Artisanal Cheese based in New York City. From Daniel Dowe the CEO to Denis Cotin (Director of Affinage) to Max McCalman (Director of Curriculum) the entire group is pleasant, interesting and passionate about their amazing product and company. (You can buy Max's books including The Cheese Plate on Amazon.com)

Max provided a tour of the company operations including a visit to the "cheese caves." We had to don hair nets, shoe coverings and lab coats to ensure we didn't disrupt the ecosystem that is built up with these living breathing organisms. As Max told us, he likes to make the case for cheese being the planet's most perfect food. 60 seconds with Denis and Max and you realize this is not the land of Velveeta and Kraft singles.

As a coffee and wine amateur aficionado, the complexities and wonderful stories built into the cheese world were quickly obvious. Artisanal Cheese imports extraordinary from all over the world...the largest percentage of which are cow-produced but plenty of examples of sheep, goat and others.

Artisanal Cheese is available at select delis and restaurants but you can learn more about them and order directly off their web site www.artisanalcheese.com.

One of the benefits of traveling coast to coast on a constant basis is the opportunity to discover terrific restaurants. This is a slight offset to the arduous hours in airlines, airports, cabs and the like. I have decided to start sharing some of my absolute favorites.

I am huge Mexican food fan...and having lived in Southern California for 12 years I consider myself qualified to assess good Mexican. Taco Diner in Dallas is not good....IT'S FANTASTIC! This "mexico city taqueria" is very casual...actually cool. It's hip, almost stark /Santa Fe meets California decor is the first sign that the place is going to be a little different than your average Mexican cafe. There are 5 locations (part of the M Crowd Restaurant Group) and we were so enamored with the food that we ate lunch there two days in a row.

The drinks rock, including the Mango Margarita and the Mambo Taxi. However, like any great Mexican restaurant, the hint that good things are coming starts with the chips and salsa. They serve a brown and a green salsa with fresh chips...the tastes are unique and memorable. The guacamole is also above par.

Finally, the food is amazing. From the Tacos Campiones to the Asados "A la Parrila" to the Guacamole "Mi Tierra" you simply cant go wrong with anything on their menu. A must if you are in Dallas!

I wanted to share a personal connection I have with a terrific author. Last week, Bob Crimmins and I had the privilege of visiting Dianne Emley as she passed through Seattle (Seattle Mystery Bookshop) on her book signing tour. Dianne's most recent novel isThe Deepest Cut, the third book in a series featuring a female detective named Nan Vining. The first two books were The First Cut and Cut to the Quick. It's particularly gratifying to see Dianne's success building because she is married to Charlie Emley, Jr, a long-time friend and mentor of mine.

I did a little impromptu interview with Dianne (click below) and encourage you to pick up her books. I have only recently started to read the series and I am hooked. (They are available on the Kindle.)

While visiting members and partners in New York this week I had the fortune of attending the Westminister Dog Show. I have watched the show for years and actually didnt realize it was taking place while I was in town...so a nice unexpected surprise. Further, my friend Tony Carter was showing both a champion Shar-pei and Champion Rottweiler.

I am a huge fan of Rottweilers and my US/Canadian Champion is pictured here. His name is Ubu and he has been an integral part of the iMedExchange team and my family since he was a puppy.

I know for a fact that many of our physician members are dog lovers and owners and welcome you to share pictures and stories of your canine friends on the site.

Finally, The Doctor's Channel has done a nice job of combining both our love of dogs and Valentine's Day. Enjoy!

I have always been curious as to whether or not providers watch shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, ER, House and so on....most tell me they don't but the Amednews article "TV doctors' flaws become bioethics teaching moments" by Kevin O'Reilly seems to indicate otherwise.

The article refers to a 2008 study in the Journal of Bioethics in which of 400 medical and nursing students at Johns Hopkins University, 76% of doctors in training watch "House" and 73% watch ABC's hospital soap opera "Grey's Anatomy."

If you're an iMedExchange member, join your colleagues in the discussion "Dr. House Gets Bashed as a Disruptive Physician".

I am very pleased to introduce Jeff Shaw as the new Head Golf Professional on iMedExchange. Jeff is a seasoned PGA pro with a distinguished career as a competitive golfer, private country club head pro and in recent years a golf publisher. Jeff played intercollegiate golf at the University of Southern California.

Jeff's addition to the iMedExchange community marks the beginning of some really fun and exciting opportunities that will be rolled out for our members throughout the course of 2009. The iMedExchange Golf Club will be unlike anything available today...a combination of the best resources available online and in private and public courses around the country. Members with an interest in golf should join the Golf Group on iMedExchange and start getting warmed up for Spring Golf.

The driving premise behind iMedExchange is that we treat physicians as human beings first and clinicians second. As such, the iMedExchange Golf Club is just one of a growing number of ways in which we are working to make iMedExchange the ultimate physician's lounge...a place that is fun and valuable for our physician members.

Now that Christmas and Chanukah are over, it's time to get on with the major college football bowl games.

For those physicians belonging to either the Sooner or Gator Nation, predictions have already begun on iMedExchange. Members click here to join the smack-talk. Who will win the Orange Bowl and take the official national championship?

As for me, there is only one bowl game that matters and that's the Rose Bowl. My USC Trojans will be taking on Joe Paterno's Penn State.

While the Rose Bowl will be great as always, it's a quasi-tragedy that USC isn't playing for the National Championship. The BCS needs to be blown up and a playoff started. If Barack Obama didn't keep one campaign pledge but this one, I'd be satisfied.

Throughout the year I typically don't get time to write as much as I'd like, but I really enjoy these few weeks closing out the year...I remove most commitments from my schedule and get a little extra time to do things I enjoy - spend time with my family, catch up on reading, write and perhaps get in a few days of skiing while we are in Colorado.

To have some fun with our physician community....send me pictures of your family and/or staff enjoying themselves during the Holiday Season. I'll upload a collage of pictures on my New Years Day blog post to share with everyone. Should be fun to see what our physician community is doing from Alaska to New York to Florida.

Walmart stampedes and leftover turkey...Black Friday, as it is becoming known, is a great day to avoid town and get back to the office as far as I am concerned.

It seems like I was just writing a blog entry on the many things in my life I have to be thankful for....but alas that was an entire year ago. In Internet years that is like a decade.

Certainly I am thankful for the extremely hard work logged by the entire iMedExchange team this past year. As always, I am thankful for my family...they put up with a lot given my long hours and constant travel. Certainly I am thankful for our growing cadre of wonderful partners and sponsors...from The Abernathy Group to Castle Connolly to Practice Match and so many others. I am also thankful for the hundreds of physicians all across the country who have contributed to the growth of iMedExchange this past year through their help as Advisors and investors.

This day has become one of my favorite days for reflecting back on the year and beginning to polish plans for the upcoming year. I am excited for some amazing things that are going to materialize this coming year...but they will have been built upon the efforts of this past year...and that doesn't go unnoticed by me.

I'm going to conclude this blog entry and get home to hang out with my family. Enjoy your long week-end if you are fortunate enough to have one; and for our physician readers, know that we are looking forward to continuing our efforts at making iMedExchange YOUR online community.

I hope all you fathers had a great Father's Day. I thought I'd write from beautiful Omaha, Nebraska where I have been fortunate enough to spend the past several days taking in the first round of the College World Series. While I planned the trip some time ago, it also turned out to be a good break before iMedExchange officially goes live next week. The team is working hard this week in preparation for the unveiling.

As for the CWS...what a terrific event! This was my second time in attendance and the people of Omaha are amazing hosts. Everyone in the town seems to be involved or heavily interested in the event, which is rare for any sporting event and its host town. It's also impossible not to notice how nice the people in Omaha are....as an example, a woman slowed her car down to let us know we didn't need to feed the meter on Saturday evening. Who stops to save you a few quarters? People in Omaha do.

4 great CWS games have already been played with Fresno State coming out the biggest surprise. They entered the tournament the lowest seed to ever make the tournament and they demolished Rice 17-5. Stanford, Miami and North Carolina finished out the winner's bracket. Games resume today at Rosenblatt Stadium, in its final few years until Omaha erects a new stadium near Qwest Center downtown.

The development team in San Francisco came up to our Seattle offices for a few days of meetings and fun times. The pictures of the meetings are pretty boring, but we all dressed up one night and went to Teatro Zinzanni - and that picture is exciting enough to share. What a great event! If you're ever in Seattle, I highly recommend it. We even got Tobin to wear a boa - now that's a good CEO. Thanks for the visit guys - hope to see you again in person soon!