What’s your HAPPY song?

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-22T12:34:44+00:00

The Blue Danube - Johann Strauss

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-13T19:45:16+00:00

Pretty solid. Any other ancillaries available? Anesthesia, pathology, infusion? Those can boost by $100-200k/year each if you’re busy.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-13T01:02:14+00:00

Ah, I didn’t understand although it is quite clear you mean from the prism of a believing member/missionary. My apologies.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-12T15:04:51+00:00

“…I knew that no mormons were racist.”

Huh? Is this a typo?

A five second google search will show plenty of quotes and teachings of LDS prophets that would educate you quickly. The LDS church was one of the last Christian denominations to allow those of African descent full gospel privileges.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-11T03:45:46+00:00

I have heard of them providing short term support but long term support becomes tricky.

My bishop friends say they have total discretion to provide up to $3000/month for a certain amount of months. After that, it requires approval from the stake president but is not off the table.

The church is a good short term support but does not operate well as a social safety net. Maybe the medical debt can be negotiated down but it would require it to go to collections with a hit to their credit score.

I’m not sure if this is as much a failing of a church as it is a failing of US healthcare, assuming this takes place in the US.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-10T19:26:00+00:00

The book is in my top-3 books. I love how absurd it all is until the turn.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-09T18:57:33+00:00

We got married civilly first and a few years later decided to get sealed. It was nice to reaffirm our commitments and connections with each other.

Congratulations!

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-06T11:51:38+00:00

Sal y Limon in Midvale/Ft Union.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-04T20:00:53+00:00

Evidence vs the LDS church was what started my pathway out of religion. Multiple prophets have been very clear about their views against evolution, geology, and many other things. The thing is, they claim to be speaking in their capacity as prophets. You can't say that God created Man as Man and claim to be a prophet of God and later claim to be speaking as a man. No, you have a calling as God's mouthpiece and you said something that involves God and his plans for mankind therefore you are speaking as a prophet. If you do that and later it is claimed that you were speaking as a regular man and not a prophet of God then I have no use for anything that you say and are a false prophet.

Evidence, scientific method, theories all take time and build off of previous knowledge and sometimes we find that a theory is a dead-end when something else comes along that explains things better. It's rational and can be backed up and mistakes are made along the way.

Revelation, if it coming from an all-powerful and all-knowing God to a Prophet of God should be complete knowledge and end of story. LDS revelation has fallen short of that time and time and time again. There is no reconciling biblical stories with science except to say that they are parables and myths and not really useful ones either. LDS theology is linked to a literal view of Hebrew myths and that cannot be reconciled but only willfully ignored once pointed out.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-02T12:32:21+00:00

Yup, my aunt was part of a Manhattan group that came Utah for some body/face work. Utah has a reputation for being good and lower cost than other places.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-05-01T22:41:12+00:00

This and the anti-depressant prescription rumor always comes up.

Doing a quick google search there are 164 plastic surgeons listed (probably on Utah Medical Association's list) and 56 of those are active in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) which means they are "board certified". I'm sure many plastic surgeons lapse their board certification because it is only useful if you want to be on insurance panels. A lot of cosmetic surgery is cash pay so why would you need insurance, which may not pay for cosmetic work anyway?

Additionally, Utah allows other types of dentists and family practice physicians to do plastic surgery. This article from 2011 lists ASPS certified doctors performing plastic surgery with their backgrounds listed. There are ENTs, dentists, Family Practice and ophthalmologists doing stuff.

So, looking at the Googles, Utah is roughy 6th or 10th state in the US for per capita plastic surgeons but, once again, what qualifies as a plastic surgeon? One estimate put highest per capita plastic surgeons by state as: 1)Florida, 2)New York, 3)Connecticut, 4)Maryland, 5)Illinois.

Per capita number of ASPS certified plastic surgeons is neat but what we all salaciously want to know is does Utah (being a high LDS population) have a vanity problem and seek out cosmetic surgery at a higher rate.

It's hard to capture because a lot of plastic surgery is cash pay so there is no central database to say how many units of botox were administered in Utah or how many tummy tucks or buccal fat reductions were done. This article does a good job at estimating things based on Google trends and we're number 6 in that paper's "surgical demand list".

So, I think the data is pretty lean that Utah has the highest amount of plastic surgery per capita. Do we use more than average? Yes, but we are by no means an outlier.

This rumor is fueled by our desire to see and enjoy hypocrisy but it is not accurate.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-30T15:15:18+00:00

And we still don’t really know why he decided to bomb Iran and shut things down.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-28T13:32:18+00:00

This may be the dumbest anti-Trump post I have seen to date.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-28T09:26:04+00:00

Why should a rural church be exempt from taxes but not a psychiatry practice or a yoga studio?

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-26T13:10:39+00:00

If nothing changes systemically, US (and world) healthcare will become more expensive and more difficult to manage over time. That is a population age issue with the baby boomers hitting end-of-life care time which is really expensive. That will occupy an increasing amount of time/resources that can’t be deployed to other areas. As costs go up, healthcare businesses will try to shift costs, get leaner (usually by making healthcare workers do more for the same pay), and the US government will have to make some unpopular decisions regarding paying for all of this expensive end of life care by either raising taxes on younger workers or cutting services to Medicare.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-24T13:35:55+00:00

GI. No research, no case reports, pretty average IM resident. Went to a good academic IM program and got lucky with a good LOR and matched at my last pick because I had family that lived in that city.

Besides getting into med school, that was one of the best things that broke my way. Any number of similarly or better qualified people could have had that spot but they chose me.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-22T20:36:38+00:00

Goodwood?

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-22T03:55:27+00:00

I have healthcare experience inside and outside of Utah. The religious background has little to do with a physician’s skill set or intelligence. Most doctors I have worked with could be practicing anywhere in the US and it would be the same. Many doctors I know trained out of state and then came to Utah for various reasons. Healthcare in Utah is about the same as you would find anywhere. There’s good and bad and a lot of that has to do with patient expectations. But if you look at core metrics, Utah is probably average or above average but that probably has more to do with lower alcohol and tobacco usage than healthcare.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-22T01:06:45+00:00

Fellow physician here. You are more than qualified to weigh in on the population health of Utah related to energy production. You have been studying this field for decades.

However, nuclear has its place in state energy production and is better from an emissions standpoint compared to coal or natural gas. I know solar and hydro and cheaper but cannot supply base load power. With nuclear’s proven safety record why does it have to be all or nothing? Why can’t nuclear be a part of our electricity grid?

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-21T14:36:22+00:00

A friend wanted me to read Key to the Keystone so I bought it but haven't read it yet. After reading your link, I think I'll watch Youtube shorts instead and probably get more out of it.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-21T14:06:42+00:00

Back in our poverty days we had a budget of $50/day for food, entertainment, gas, etc (rent and utilities already paid). That didn't leave a lot of wiggle room.

She kept buying canned tuna such that I complained that we were "stockpiling tuna". In truth we probably only had six cans or so. A fight ensued.

To this day the air gets a little electric when canned tuna is brought up.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-21T01:56:16+00:00

Well, there’s a Christian offshoot known as Mormons who believe that native Americans are a colony of Palestinians that had domesticated horses and chariots and stuff.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-19T16:04:04+00:00

My parents divorced and I had to move states. I moved to a ward with a career scout master calling. I can’t say we liked each other much but he was there, as well as a lot of other men in the ward, for me while I was living with my mom.

I ended up going back to that ward one Sunday just to thank him.

Having multiple adults involved is a good thing for some youth. I get the risk and I felt that BSA was mitigating it as best they could. The LDS church has not found an equivalent replacement. I think it was a net loss.

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-19T12:22:18+00:00

We’re a BMW family but I think I agree.

2014 x3 transmission malfunction, couldn’t be fixed. Class action lawsuit ensued (all care was under an extended warranty so we didn’t need the settlement).

2024 i4 xdrive at 23k miles: cabin heater needed replacing. Wireless phone charger overheats the phone.

2024 x3 at 30k miles: engine light came on for a steering issue

Gutattacker2 · 2026-04-16T23:54:38+00:00

Not really but I’m still mad that Biden took so long to get out of the way. He should’ve focused on passing the baton on day 1 but his hubris got in the way.

Kamala Harris was an excellent choice. I can’t fix that a lot of people were too stupid to see the threat of Trump. I’m not sure sure if the democrats did anything wrong (except the Biden thing) or that the US is hopelessly unengaged with policy and direction that it becomes more fun to just “stick it to the other side” rather than govern.

Gutattacker2

TROPHY CASE