Arizona...

Does anything rhyme with Arizona? Or any state, really, for that matter. Though, now that I think about it, Oregon is a homonym. Few Pork. Pain. Schebraska.

Alrighty, then. Arizona as a state is not inspiring me to great heights of creative genius. Though it is good on the hair.

Interview number four is tomorrow, followed by number five on Wednesday! Already, the programs are starting to blend into one giant massive program. With a huge commute.

For the sake of brevity, and sparing you the boredom of reading any more drivel...

Black Friday

What better way to follow up a day of total gustatory over-indulgence than with a day of total consumerism?

My lovely sisters joined me at the mall this morning at 5:00. That's am. Morning. Ante merdiem. All three of us made it there, too. Aren't we cool?

Well. Maybe not so much. Part of me feels a little guilty for buying into the whole frenzy of "Black Friday." But that part of me is also a little lazy, so I left it behind in bed this morning.

Seriously, though - is there anything quite like the feeling of getting a really good deal? I saved over $100 with my first purchase today! Of course, as my dad pointed out, he saved even more money since he didn't buy anything. (I'd like to direct you all to a few posts ago when I mentioned all the rocks we have here... And the shop... Yeah. 'Nuf said.)

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the Crack 'O Dawn shopping experience. In the end, though - more specifically around 9 am when we were leaving the mall parking lot - early is the way to go on Black Friday.

Except... not at Wal-Mart. People apparently go loopy at Wal-Mart. Well. More loopy. There was no 'rush' at JC Penney.

Now I have to go look at my purchases. And sleep. If that pesky guilty-feeling part of me lets me - it's better rested.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm not positive, but I think this is a fairly accurate re-creation of the first Thanksgiving.

Now, go eat turkey!!!

Welcome to My Casa

I promised pictures, so here you are: a photographic tour of the new Casa de Mi Familia.


Here is the road that leads to our new home. Actually, this is taken from an angle that would lead away from our home, seeing as I took it from our driveway. So... Just imagine the same thing in reverse. I was too lazy to walk to the end.


And here is one of the first things you'll see as you approach our house. Past the trailer thing is one leg of the driveway. I'm standing in the other leg. (Do you call them legs when the driveway is shaped like a U?) The building there is some mysterious building. I think they used to build trophies there. Seriously. Now it is filled with my dad's stuff. And the hot water heater.


Now, how do you know for sure that you reached the correct house? You'll know because there will be rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.


And sometimes a flower or two. But always rocks.


Here is the pride of the whole farm. The SHOP. I keep accidentally calling it the 'shed.' My dad quickly corrects me. It is a SHOP...


...filled with things like LARGE amounts of GRANITE...


...and TRACTORS... (Doesn't this tractor look a little evil here? Like it is in a Disney short or Thomas the Tank Engine episode and it is going to go do something evil that the cute little house or train protagonist will have to overcome or defeat or something. And then little kids will have nightmares about the scary red-eyed scary machine. Evil tractor.)...


I think this is my dad's unofficial throne of the SHED. Oops. Shop. I meant SHOP, there. Not Shed. SHOPPE.


Here is another view from the driveway. It isn't really that the driveway is huge (though it kind of is) it is just that the grass is kind of new, and I don't want to kill the fledgling...grasslets by stomping all over them. Plus, it is kind of muddy.


And, finally, here is the front door. Won't you all come in?

Actually, let me check with my mom first...

Call Me Mrs. Darcy

...because I am INCANDESCENTLY happy.

I got to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels last night. (btw Norbert Leo Butz is a genious)

I had a great interview today.

I just got another interview invitation.

At UC Davis.

AND!!!

I'm in New York City on a Friday night.

Gotta love it.

Glutton for Punishment?

I've always liked to count things by fives. Five, ten, fifteen, etc. It is just a nice, complete number. And whenever I make tally marks, I hate ending on a straight up-and-down line, preferring instead to close the group of lines with a fifth, angled slash across them.

Yes, five is a good number.

Except when it is the number of times you've been rejected from someplace. And by 'somplace' I mean OHSU. That is Oregon Health & Science University, for those of you not familiar with it. And here is a chronological list of the times they've rejected me:

Spring 2000: Rejected from joining the med school Class of 2004
December 2001: Rejected from joining the Class of 2005
Spring 2002: Rejected from joining the Class of 2006
Spring 2005: Rejected from doing a fourth year rotation at OHSU
and, finally, November 16, 2005: Rejected from their pediatrics residency program

Finito.

Thankfully, with the magic number 5, I've reached the end of things that OHSU can reject me from! Woo-hoo!

But, let's take a moment to feel horrifically sorry for me as my dreams are shattered, yet again...

[moment]

Okay, now that's over.

Interestingly, in the last week, I have been systematically rejected from three of the top ten most overpriced cities in the US. I should be thanking them for saving me the trouble. Of course, I'm flying to another of those top ten cities tomorrow. And... I'm still waiting to hear from another of the ten.

Did I mention that I applied to schools in 6 of the top 10 most overpriced cities? Hmm. Maybe those schools knew something when they rejected me - I'm kind of stupid to do that, after all.

So, no Portland for me. It's funny how OHSU consistently makes me lose sight of one of my own personal, over-arching philosophies of life: that Everything Turns Out All Right in the End.

I maintain faith that I will end up at a place that is good for me. (And hopefully a place where I'll actually meet some interesting and single men!) Obviously, that place is not Portland.

I'm five-times convinced of that!

Scam!

In this era of internet and e-mail scams, I'm ever vigilant for things that look too good to be true, or things that just don't look right. I think I'm relatively good at staying away from people or products that are going to waste my time or money.

Online, anyway.



I just got this postcard thingy in the mail. It looks official - like a card that you send with registered mail. And it was forwarded to me here at my parents house from my apartment. I was half-way convinced that I should call the number - I won an auction on eBay a while ago, and thought it might have something to do with that.

Being the savvy person that I am, though, I went online (I heart the internet) and found this info. It was exactly the same thing I received!

Anyway. I feel pretty stupid for almost getting schnookered. Beware, everyone! They still use snail mail for scams!!! And even *gasp* the telephone!!!

Shocking, I know.

Here's To Healthy Chompers!

My dreaded dentist appointment was this morning. And as it turns out, my teeth are just fine!

In other news, I'm apparently a wimp now, and can't handle a little pain.

Actually, my sore tooth (the one that I thought I'd need a root canal in) was feeling better today. I almost didn't go to the dentist, but I didn't want to risk my periodontal health.

To celebrate healthy teeth everywhere, I got some little gifts for the welfare of our family pets' teeth:


Murphy and Lexi enjoy chewing on bones to keep their teeth healthy. But actually, what they enjoy even more than that, is trying to get whatever the other one has.


I don't know what cats use to keep their teeth healthy, so I just got Slater a catnip tennis ball. I think I only succeeded in scaring the poor cat. Oh, well. I don't think tennis balls are great for teeth anyway.

I Live!

So, it seems that every time I come home to Oregon, I tend to go into temporary hiding. I don't know what exactly I am hiding from, but Oregon seems to be a good place to do it. Seeing as I'm going to be here through Christmas, I figured I should force myself out of my seclusion, otherwise people may think I've disappeared for good. Not true!

How about some brief updates? Sounds good to me!

Well, I've had two interviews now. Also, I've had two rejections. Fortunately, the rejections don't match up to the interviews! That is one nice thing about the match process - we don't necessarily get outright rejected. Except for Seattle. Darn Seattle. And San Diego. Which is funny, but I'm not going to bother going there, except to say that I've learned enough since I applied to San Diego to know that I wouldn't have interviewed there even if they'd invited me!

My first interview was at my home school. Good program, great people, horrible city. I just don't think I can stay there. Being away is so good for my soul. My second interview was at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. I applied mostly just because I like Charleston. And I interviewed mostly because I was going to be there with my sister anyway. Several residents I'd talked to in the days before my first interviews had said they didn't like MUSC's hospital at all. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling terribly enthusiastic about the program before I interviewed there. But I really liked it! I can already tell that making a rank list is going to be very, very hard for me.

My next interview will be this coming Friday in New York City. Yes, I have this month off for interviews, and yes I came home to be closer to my "West Coast interviews" and yes, I am turning around to fly to NY a mere week after I came home. Deal with it.

By the way, "West Coast interviews" is in quotes because they are pretty much non-existent at this point.

I did send a "Please pick me!" begging e-mail to OHSU though. We'll see if it has any effect.

Did I mention that I came home a week earlier than my mom expected to surprise her for her birthday? 'Twas much fun. She was totally astounded. Definitely astounded.

In the interim from the last time I was home, my parents moved from our old house to the new farm! How exciting. I'll tell you all about it later. I may even post pictures.

I am going to go to bed now. Because I have to get up early. To go to the dentist. Because I might need a root canal. Yes, you heard me: Root. Canal. I hate teeth.

Oh, and PS. Pride and Prejudice is worth seeing, but after the scene where Lizzie convinces her dad that she really does like Darcy, do yourself a favor and close your eyes, plug your ears and go "la-la-la" for the next few minutes. Or just go see the movie in England or Australia where they are kind enough to save you the trouble of enduring the last scene, which RUINS the ENTIRE movie. If you're smart enough to do that, and you happen to be in my neck of the woods, my sisters and I will re-create the scene for you. I know CPR.

Meine Schwester

is 24 years old today!

Happy Birthday Melissa!!!!!!!

Faux Pas

Alright. I would be the last person to claim to be a fashion guru, and my 'work' clothes are not always the most impeccable and/or wrinkle free. But. I do have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, especially when I am at the bottom of the totem pole and can't pull of the 'eccentric attending' look and wear Hawaiian shirts or raggedy looking pants.

There is this third year student that I think could learn a few things from me. My first lesson would be short - one word even: smile. I've never seen this girl not scowl.

Beyond the smile paucity, though, there is the matter of her wardrobe. Last Friday, I noticed that she was wearing black jeans. The cut of the jeans was fine - not tapered, and they were long enough. But, did I mention that they were JEANS? I cut her some slack that day - hey, people do wear dark jeans as a dressed up evening look, and it was Friday, after all - maybe she was just confused and thought that third years qualified for 'casual day.'

Then on Monday, she was wearing what I can only describe as track pants. They were black and had a dark green running stripe down the side. The material was kind of flocked, so it wasn't shiny or anything. But there was elastic around the ankles.

I justified THAT by noting that she was on call, and the pants actually looked more dressy than scrub pants. From a distance anyway.

But then, today? She was wearing blue jeans. BLUE jeans. With the cuffs folded up a good three inches. Blue jeans with folded up cuffs and her white coat. Good grief.

I'd take this poor young misguided thing aside to tell her that her clothes are inappropriate, but her scowliness scares me.

In less than a year, I will be grading medical students. Rest assured - if you wear jeans around me, your grade will suffer.

End of Day Report

Number of interviews received today: 1
Number of interviews total: 8
Number of schools yet to hear from: 11

Total word count for Nano 2005: 757
Words left for Nano: 49,243

So... Not a terrible day, really. Boo-yaw.

Distressing

AhhhghhhGHHHGHhhhh!

My e-mail box has yet to deliver any new interviews today. Grr.

Today was the busiest day ever on Peds ID. And my 'busiest' I mean that I got no free time - only an hour for lunch. And by 'not getting any free time' I mean that I had to sit around listening to everyone and their neighbor talking about all these patients that WEREN'T ON MY SERVICE. And by 'sit around' I mean that I had to STAND for HOURS in a freaking work-room filled with six over-worked interns, several disgruntled upper levels and TWENTY THOUSAND THIRD YEARS. Seriously. They're everywhere. I swear they're multiplying. Like rabbits. Like sitting-in-a-chair-that-should-rightfully-be-mine-because-I-am-a-fourth-year-and-I-stood-all-thru-MY-third-year rabbits.

AND - horror of horrors - I saw a woman today - MY age, mind you - who had her jeans PEGGED. PEGGED JEANS. On a twenty-something year old.

I think my head is going to explode.

And I still have to start Nano!!!!