My last Christmas in NYC for a little while...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!



This year, it's really chilly in NYC... and we finally got our massive blizzard / snow dump on Stephen's Day. Now all you European romanticizers know what I'm talking about! I do like NYC at Christmastime with the decorations and the constant store music blaring. But I definitely will not miss all the cursing. I'm no prude and I can be sailor-ish, but every time you hear someone on their cell phones it's always F-in this or s*** that. It'll nice to be in a place where everything is a little bit calmer and people aren't so angry.



Last week I went to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson ... could have done without seeing that particular musical. Nice set, but not a whole lot of substance to the actual plot and no real wit in the lyrics. Then I subwayed to Macy's - another exercise in patience re: shopping in a big city at Christmas! Every time it's a big reminder of why I should just stick to online shopping :), which I've become quite good at! (and I get to collect boxes for my move out of here!)

I also saw Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown which is based on a famous movie and also had one of my favorite broadway actresses in it (Laura Benanti). Unfortunately, the show is closing early and didn't get very good reviews but honestly, I thought it was fantastic! I was up in the mezzanine so maybe it looks less chaotic from up there, but I thought the way they put together scenes and used the set was pretty awesome. Fantastic singing and Benanti's character (the funny one) was just great. I'm going to have to buy the cast album just for that one song!

Oh, and another thing I'm going to have to see again is the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular... I thought it was going to be mainly for the kids, and in some respects it is but great choreography and sets. I'd love to take mom! Only next time I'll shell out for the expensive seats in front cos all the coughing snotty loud kids are in the back...

The rest of Christmas was pretty uneventful and all my off days were spent recuperating from work. Worked short staffed but we survived, it's snowed more this year than in any of my other years here and still you'll come up to waist-high piles of snow and all the cars are still boxed in. But it's kind of nice to see NYC blanketed in snow in the early mornings before people are trying to bustle in the streets.

Chiefs have it rough!

I haven't posted on here in awhile! I thought being in final year of residency with a decreased number of shifts would give me more time. It has to some degree, but all my free time is monopolized by my Chief duties! So yes yes, I'm one of my program's Chiefs this year. Technically, I'm the Chief Resident of Acadaemia, but I dabble in everything that needs to get done. What does it mean? Respect, yes. Self-pride, yes. More money, not really. A HELL OF A LOT MORE WORK! And it also means no one likes me anymore, except when they want something...

But really, I do enjoy it. I'm not opposed to administrative stuff and it's interesting to try to plan our lectures and engage my program in useful activities. I'm not really a fan of being the end point for the whining or having to be connected to my email 24/7 though. But facilitating new ideas (whether mine or someone else's) is always good for change!

Currently I'm applying for my fellowship in Ultrasound EM. I think it's a field that is becoming increasingly more important (quickly) and I want to make sure I'm "expert" in it before starting my career when I have no time to go back and do it. I could potentially see myself doing a couple fellowships actually, but of all the ones offered in EM, this one is the most important right now. I have my first interview tomorrow and one next week as well, so we'll see how it goes.

We also just came back from Las Vegas ACEP, which was absolutely fantastic! Our program tries to send all the 3rd years and we lucked out that it was in LV this year. SO much fun, there was one night that there was a sponsored party in one of the hottest nightclubs on the strip, and we didn't get back to our rooms til 6 am! I've never seen so many docs on the floor (literally) before! Our program director took us out to a lovely dinner in the Venetian, and we went for a buffet in Paris as well. Walked the strip and saw the sites... LV would not be a bad place to live, I think. Can't wait for future ACEP's!

Big Bad Chief Rant

Welcome to my last year in residency (now 1/2 year!) and to Chiefdom as well. Being Chief is about as fun as sticking a needle in your eye. I'd say since June, most of my free time has been spent poring over just one month's schedule. And I still have to do the conference schedule, arrange lecturers and assign text reading. Yikes.

Then there are the day-to-day problems . X person calling in sick and spending hours on the phone trying to reach people to cover. (This sick call business is getting really old and we've had multiple issues over the Christmas period). Y and Z people didn't show up to their outside rotations and there goes more hours speaking with administration. Once I was called during one of my fellowship interviews to handle this stuff so I had to keep apologizing for answering my phone. Went on until 10:30 at night! Sometimes I think for a bunch of doctors who are supposed to be logical and be able to handle problems by themselves, they can be worse than the general population.

Now it's interview season and we're short one program director, we're short attendings and so for the last month my time has been sucked into giving interviews or tours. Good thing I like meeting new people, but it means I can't really plan on things or do anything else like mini ski trips or whatever. Cramping my style, man!!!

It's not so bad, I do enjoy being able to effect "policy" and being an "authority" (DOWN WITH AUTHORITY MAN!), and we do get paid a small stipend. But it's definitely no holiday and I've lost a lot of my free time.

Fortunately I got through all my fellowship interviews in October / November (which was really hectic!). These days last forever, some of them from 9-5! I think I did about 7 interviews which was less than other people, and it was exhausting. I subsequently got URI sick for a month! They're pretty laid back just like regular ER interviews for residency but wow, I'd forgotten how tiring it all is. I don't think being chief really has that much bearing on your competitiveness for fellowship. It helps, but it's not going to seal a deal. I have a pretty good CV in terms of "extracurriculars" which is definitely not as extensive now as it was in medical school. Still, every little bit counts I guess. All my work has paid off, though ... I'm going to Yale for my Ultrasound Fellowship! Time to celebrate!!!

One last run...

Too bad snowboarding season is over, just when I started getting a little control of my board! I went back for one last run and since last week was so warm and it suddenly turned cold over the weekend, all the groomed snow was like ICE so people were catching edges all over the place. Definitely was able to control turns and start linking them without falling, and the last two runs I did there were no falls which was awesome. But before those, my knees did take a beating. I'm definitely going to have to invest in some protective gear for next season. I can't wait!

Today I'm just cleaning stuff up, trying to pack up winter stuff and get everything clean. I'll go to OBGYN later and see if there's any evening deliveries. I need to start studying for next year since it's the big bag third year where I'm actually expected to know stuff. I also need to start saving. I need a new computer (yet again) cuz my laptop is fritzing out on me, and using this netbook is slightly annoying since I lost bluetooth when I upgraded to Win 7. DAMN WINDOWS 7 I DISLIKE YOU.

Goodbye winter, happy spring!

Now the winter months are nearly over and usually I'm happy about this, but now I've found a new love - snowboarding! Too bad I didn't discover this sport sooner, I'm addicted...can't get enough. I've only been out about 3 times, but I'm already purchasing two boards (that I got on massive sale of course). One is the Burton Feel Good with Escapade EST bindings, which is just way too advanced for me right now (didn't quite realize this before I bought it). Can't wait til the day I'm good enough to handle it! And then I got the Atomic Vantage board which is more a beginner-intermediate board. Yeah, it's a men's board but with my height and large feet, there we go. I just love its design. Will have to tell you more about how they ride next year. Hell, I might even just start my own snowboarding blog!

Anyway, in Jan I went on vacation to Australia / NZ which was awesome awesome awesome. I'm seriously thinking of moving there to practice after residency and fellowship. Definitely a sorely needed va-cay, as my residency was getting extremely puerile and tempers were exploding all over the place. Visited my friend (another doc) in the Coromandel part of the North Island, which is very pretty. Unfortunately it rained the whole time but we did some sea kayaking and Zorbed (they stick you in a ball with warm water and roll you down a hill) in Rotorua. We also drove through Tauranga, which seems absolutely lovely and has a mountain and a beachside resort. Sounds like the kind of place I'd like to live! We stayed a few days in Auckland too, seems like a happenin place but more expensive than elsewhere.

Visited a friend in Brisbane and it was nice to see them after about 10 years (omg it's been 10 years since I saw them last), got to hug some koalas and managed for once to take some gorgeous not-quite-photogenic-photos-but-better-than-I-usually-take ones. We also got some beach time in, but this trip actually wasn't beach-heavy. Finally made it to Melbourne, with some good shopping and hanging out with my sis's friends done, and found a new favorite wine - Moscato! MMMMM. And always a highlight, the Aussie Open! It was a scorcher this year because we were sitting right under the sun, and saw roddick beaten by cilic :[. Also caught a great show with Geoffrey Rush called The Drunken Chaperone, very funny, we kept repeating lines for days afterwards!

Then back to work, exams, study (meh) and now I'm coming to the close of a rather useless OBGYN rotation. Ah, at least I've got snowboarding to distract me for at least one more weekend! That's the great thing about NYC. You have beaches an hour away and mountains 2 hours away. Seems like a great blend, thinking about staying here for a good while!