Taking Time to Smell the Flowers

NOT!

We move this week. A large moving van will be here Thursday morning and we're trying to get a lot accomplished in the last few days - like getting all of the kids toys and minutia over to the new place to help decrease the time it will take the movers (money saved for my program). We spent most of the weekend hauling crap over and getting it organized, taking it out of the boxes so that we can reuse them again and won't have a ton of trash at the end and so forth.

And yes, you read that right - we're staying in the area where I'm attending medical school, but I'll be a few miles away at the larger, "why are you going there - we don't like them", hospital than at the one I've toiled at and bitched about for a couple years. And yes again, a lot of the residents and faculty have a bad impression of the other place, often wondering why I wanted to go there in the first place - because they're larger, fancier, more equipped, do tons of grounds breaking research, and have a lot more money than our county hospital...and they have a residency that kicks ass. That's why.

Well anyway, we've gotten a little sidetracked here...I was just letting you know that we're turning off our internet connection and going with another once we move in. Plus with moving and stuff I'm going to be rather busy. Therefore posts are not going to be every day or every other like I've been aiming to do the last few months. Stay tuned as I'm sure I'll post a pic or two of our new place (maybe) and the white coat incendiations!

Almost There

In two days I'll officially be done with medical school. Oh the glory, the fame, the wonderment I see in people's eyes as I pass them.

Wait? What's that? I'm not as great as I think and my first week of internship will absolutely, no doubt about it, kick me off the top rungs of medical school heirarchy into the dregs of the lowest denominators of the hospital peasantry?!

Dammit.

But at least for now I can relax, read some, review some, and just enjoy the last moments of freedom before my life is completely taken away. Despite the generally intense nature of the ICU I've been more relaxed with issues as my time approaches. I've taken the notion that I'm still learning and really applied it to my patients, learning as much as I can from each rather than just trying to impress but not understanding what's truly going on.

Another one is the baring of arms and the tattoo concerns I've dealt with for the last 4 years. Only recently have I been more apt to wear short sleeves around peers. Now I'm frequently removing my grisled white coat in favor of bearing my arms, tats and all. This will most likely be something I shun again when residency starts, but for now I don't fear the repercussions a couple partially removed tattoos might inflict as I dispense of my cumbersome coat.

And speaking of those bastions of med school - the white coat burning is going to be kick ass! Grab a beer, throw a burger on the ol' grill, and light those short, stupid looking, monstrosities up! Pics to follow - of course.

Reading Rainbow

So I hinted earlier about my uptake in pleasurable activities during this semester and the slip in my medical knowledge because of it. I was thinking about the amount of literature that I’ve read through and, while not epic in any sense, it is rather astonishing to regard the amount of reading I’ve undertaken in the last 6 weeks. My list of fiction that I’ve gulped down with child-like glee includes:

1) Cutting Remarks by Dr. Sid Schwab
2) Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
3) The Face by Dean Koontz
4) False Memory by Dean Koontz
5) The Shining by Stephen King
6) ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
7) Nobody True by James herbert
8) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
9) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
10) First, Do No Harm by Dr. Derrick Beech

Most of these have been excellent reads, but it staggers the mind to think how much time I’ve spent absorbing fiction. No wonder I’ve gotten a little rusty. Up next? Carrie.

Wear Green and Pray

Back from vacation – visited the grandparents and spent a lot of money. It was fun and the kids were glad to see Wife’s parents again…it’s been a while. Can’t say that I’m really rested, but at least I had some time to not think about the match…which is, BTW, today…and I’ll find out about at 11 am.

Wife asked this morning for me to call her when I found out. She asked: “What will you do if you don’t match?”

Of course I instantly and with wide eyes told her to not even think such a thing.

“Are you superstititous?” she asked, incredulously.

“With medicine you have to be. A couple call nights where you discuss how slow it is only to get dumped on will make you change your thinking. Don’t talk about it. Don’t acknowledge that it might happen – then it will.”

Wise words indeed, if not completely based in magical thinking. Personally I think dragons and witches exist and that dwarfs are sissies.

Anyway, let’s stop talking about it. I’m starting to get worried. I'll update with the result later on.

So, after a week in Little Mexico (TONS of Mexicans in the city where grandparents live – about 50% of the signage was Spanish-only) I came home to a dead car. It wouldn’t turn over and I felt it was a battery problem. As I went to get it out of the car I decided to try once more and found that the car started without problem. Hrmmm….

After some detective work over the weekend I found that the battery is fine, but my connector to the negative terminal has cracked and doesn’t form a tight fit anymore. In case you were wondering, Hyundai’s have a combination of clamps for the positive and circular connections for the negative terminal. As of yet I have no idea how to fix this myself. It looks like you could just buy a part and plug it in, but then again you may have to change the entire cable – which I wouldn’t be able to do. Thus far I’ve had to push on the connector or wiggle it a bit to get the car to start more often than not. It’s not been fun.

Later today I’ll go and ask my local car repair store how easy it will be to fix, since I’m not very mechanically inclined. Perhaps I’ll even invest in a repair manual, since I’m sure there are things I can do, but just don’t have the proper guide. What I don’t want, is after spending a lot on that vacation, is to go to a mechanic and pay out the ass. Why can't I barter their price down like insurance companies do for doctors? Hell, only suckers pay what they're asked to pay for services rendered.

Adios Amoebas!

I'll be away on a much needed vacation. I shall not return at the very earliest until the 17th, at which point I will find out if I matched. So posts will not be produced until the 17th, if not later. Please look over the archives if you should so desire or you may go about your daily lives.

Till next time.

Oh Yeah

Forgot on the last post...I SAW THE FUCKING SIMPSON'S MOVIE YESTERDAY!!!!

If you're a fan of the show it's worth the money. Some very funny parts, some lame, but all in all a great way to decompress. Homer is my hero.

Bouncy Bouncy

It’s been kinda fun living in an apartment this summer. The pool is very nice and readily available as a distraction for the kids. I’ve been able to take them down, do some light review of my Boards and Wards books, and increase my vitamin D levels as well. It’s been a good form of exercise for Stepson and Daughter is learning to be less afraid of the water and is trying to swim. The one issue though: bikinis and 20 year-old harlots.

Now, we don’t live near a college, but I’d swear that the majority of people using this pool are college aged and play some sport. They’re toned, tanned, and attractive people walking around the pool at all times of the day and late into the night. I’d say it would be hard for anyone not to notice, especially when most of these comely coeds are wearing very skimpy bikinis.

And there’s the problem. I’m very happily married, to an extremely sexy woman; but I’ve got eyes, an androgenously determined cave-man like need to look, and sunglasses to hide the quick up and down. Crud.

So most of the time I spend in the pool with the kids playing in order to avoid the glances, the smiles, the jumping around, running, and some of the flirtatious demon-bitches who need people to want them for their own agendas. Damn all of you! Damn my stupid need to look! Damn it all!

What’s that? Just stop looking? Well, I would, but it’s hard when you’re reading or walking your kids to the hottub or bathroom and these “temptresses” know you’re alone. Telling me how cute my daughter is, asking me what I’m reading, am I a doctor (since I’m reading medical review books), etc, etc, etc. They ignore the very prominent wedding band, or, as some might suggest, are enticed by the “game” to woo a married man. Can’t a guy get some peace without having to look over his shoulder constantly in case Wife is spying?

So the guilt comes whenever I’ve had a bad day. It’s a male reaction that has been programmed into our genes since the dawn of time, but I should know better. I should be more respectful of Wife and avoid these women like the plague. But then I hear: “Can we go to the pool, dad? Can we go to the pool, dad? Can we go to the pool, dad? Can we go to the pool, dad?” all day long and fear what lies in wait.

***And to anyone who is going to get all huffy over the fact that men look, puuuhhhhllease. Our entire society is based around this well known fact. Why do you think Victoria’s Secret is still in business selling ridiculously expensive bras? I don’t like that it happens, but it does. You’re my support group right now and I’m “getting it off my chest”. ***