Information and opinions on BipolarConnect from John McManamy http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15 en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/ http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/27615/depression-research Mon May 12 10:38:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy Friday, Central Connecticut. I'm at my mom's place, not far from where I grew up. My brother and sister-in-law will be arriving shortly. There is no internet at my mom's, so I will get this off sometime tomorrow. To rewind:   Wednesday, Washington DC - I wake up refreshed from a sound sleep. I'm out of the danger zone. The night before I was only able to sleep for two hours. I turned up for my third full day at the American... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/27615/depression-research http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/27167/learning-science Tue May 06 18:21:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy I am writing this at 4 in the morning. I have been lying horizontal in the dark for the past 4 hours, failing miserably to close the deal with the gods of sleep.  Two hours between 10 and midnight - that was it. Then my racing mind took over. I'm in DC at the APA annual meeting, and I'm obviously way overstimulated.   I have no choice but to turn on the light now and get a few things done, but I'm almost certain I will be... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/27167/learning-science http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/26996/neurobiology-country Mon May 05 11:21:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy It's 5 PM and I'm about to call it a day. I'm in Washington DC at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting. Yesterday, I picked up my media credentials, got the lay of the land, then went back to my hotel. I had circled in a breakfast symposium that I was planning on not waking up on time for, but no such luck.  At 5 AM my eyes popped wide open, and, despite my best efforts refused to close.   Breakfast features... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/26996/neurobiology-country http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/26798/east-coast-adventure Fri May 02 14:49:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy It's 6 AM and I need to be sleeping. I'm flying out tomorrow from San Diego to Washington DC.   Yikes! What if I fly out today? Suddenly I'm wide awake.   My PowerPoint presentation! I suddenly realize. One of the slides is wrong!   I was up till 2 AM trying to get my old piece of crap Windows laptop to burn a disk of my PowerPoint and short video. I've been instructed by the organizers of a talk I will be giving that I... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/26798/east-coast-adventure http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/25865/complaince-clinician Wed Apr 23 22:00:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy I am putting together a talk that I will be delivering next month in Princeton as a grand rounds lecture to psychiatrists and other clinicians. The name of the talk is:“Controversies in Psychiatric Treatment: A patient/reporter discusses compliance.”Psychiatry is only starting to wake up to the issue, and you can make a strong case that noncompliance is the number one obstacle to our stabilization, remission, and recovery. According... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/25865/complaince-clinician http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/25421/search-unicorns Thu Apr 17 15:30:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy There oughtta be a law against all the fun I'm having. Let me backtrack:A little while ago, I discovered the concept of motion pictures. I don't take credit for this. I'm sure someone came up with the idea before me. Anyway, I figured out that if I point my new Apple desktop at me and click a button and make a face, and then click another button, I end up with what amounts to a delayed moving image of me making a face.I was thinking of using... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/25421/search-unicorns http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/24700/life-ebay-warrior Wed Apr 09 14:37:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy For those new to my shareposts here, I have a confession to make: I play the didgeridoo.Okay, I exaggerate a bit. I honk the didgeridoo.The didgeridoo is perhaps the world’s oldest wind instrument, developed by the Aborigines in Australia. It is a long wooden tube that produces a drone very conducive to cultivating one’s spiritual practice, plus some cool rhythmic pulses. I moved to southern California from New Jersey about 16 months... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/24700/life-ebay-warrior http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/24161/making-movies Thu Apr 03 23:52:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy I just noticed it’s Thursday. I thought it was Wednesday. I’m having way too much fun for my own good. Let me explain:I’m now the movie business, or, as they say in Hollywood, I’m a player. I had been thinking about producing my own short videos for some time now, and last week I got serious.Late last year, I bought an Apple desktop and laptop and started playing around with the GarageBand and iMovie programs. Both... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/24161/making-movies http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/22808/lessons-infundibulum Tue Mar 25 04:55:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy Kurt Vonnegut fans will be familiar with the phenomenon of the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, where opposite and equally valid universal truths co-exist with no contradiction. Those who enter the infundibulum simultaneously exist across a continuum spanning past and future, from our sun to the star Betelgeuse.This happened to Malachi Constant in The Sirens of Titan.Something similar happened to me:At five in the evening, March 17, I boarded a... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/22808/lessons-infundibulum http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/21687/letter-zealand Sun Mar 16 05:02:00 -0400 2008 John McManamy Sunday evening in New Zealand: I’m propped against the pillows. A tea is by my side. Classical music is playing on my iPod. I’m headed out of Wellington at 5 PM tomorrow for Auckland, whence I board a flight to LAX. Yesterday, my daughter Emily got married. Life is beautiful.To pick up from my last report:Wednesday: Emily hatches a fiendishly evil scheme. This involves me meeting up with my old mate Chris at a cafe called the Astoria... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/15/21687/letter-zealand